
ClassLDiSZt4L 



COFiRIGHT DEPOSm 



YOUR VOTE 
AND HOW TO USE IT 



YOUR VOTE 

and 

HOW TO USE IT 



BY 
MRS. RAYMOND BROWN 

Chairman of Organization of the New York State 
Woman Suffrage Party 

With a Foreword by 

MRS. CARRIE CHAPMAN CATT 

President of the National American 
Woman Suffrage Association 




HARPER y BROTHERS PUBLISHERS 

NEW YORK AND LONDON 






't: 



Your Vote and How to Use It 



Copyright, 1918. by Harper & Brothers 

Printed in the United Sutes of America 

Published February, 1918 



MAR 2i 1918 
©CI,A494164 



To 

the Many Qood Citizens 

who have helped and advised 

in the preparation of this book 

it is gratefully dedicated 



THIS BOOK IS OFFICIALLY 

ENDORSED BY THE NEW 

YORK STATE WOMAN 

SUFFRAGE PARTY 



CONTENTS 

PACK 

Foreword XV 

Preface xvii 

Chapter J. Politics and Woman's Interests . . i 
The Duties of Government — The Relation of 
Government to the Home — Duties and Obliga- 
tions of Citizenship. 

Chapter II. Town and County Government . 8 
The Town Meeting — Officials, Duties, the Kind 
of Men Needed — When and How Elected — Po- 
litical Honesty — The Relation of Country to 
City, State, and Nation. 

Chapter III. The Incorporated Village and 
City Government 24 

Classes, Charters — Officials, Duties — When Elect- 
ed — Wards and Election Districts — Franchise 
Rights — Commission Form of Government — 
City Manager. 

Chapter IV. Greater New York 37 

Mayor, Comptroller, President of the Board of 
Aldermen, Presidents of the Boroughs — The 
Board of Aldermen — The Board of Estimate and 
Apportionment — Corporation Counsel — City 
Chamberlain — Taxes and Assessments — Board 
of Education — Board of Elections — Local Im- 
provement Boards — County Government — 
Courts — Charities — Civil Service — The Budget. 

Chapter V. State Government 50 

The Constitution, Constitutional Amendments — 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

The Legislature, Senate and Assembly — How to 
Get a Law Passed — ^The Governor and Other 
Officials — Appointive Offices — Public Service, 
Health, Excise, Conservation, Civil Service, and 
Other Commissions — State Employees. 

Chapter VI. National Government 62 

The National Constitution — Congress, Its Pow- 
ers — How Constituted — Sessions of Congress — 
Congressional Committees — The President, How 
Elected, His Powers — The Cabinet — Centralized 
Government. 

Chapter VII. Who Can Vote 72 

Citizens — Aliens — How an Alien May Become a 
Citizen — Naturalization Laws — A Married Wom- 
an, an Unmarried Woman — Qualifications for 
Voting — Who May Not Vote — The 14th and 15th 
Amendments — The Woman Suffrage Amendment. 

Chapter VIII. Political Parties 80 

Republican, Democratic, Progressive, Prohibi- 
tion, and Socialist Platforms — Party Organiza- 
tion, National, State, County, and City Com- 
mittees, Election District Captains — Party 
Funds — The Use and Abuse of Party — The In- 
dependent Vote. 

Chapter IX. How Candidates Are Nominated . 91 
President and Vice-President — Enrolment of 
Voters — Direct Primaries — Objections to Direct 
Primaries — Nomination by Party Convention — 
Objections to the Party Convention — Impor- 
tance of the Primary — Nomination by Petition. 

Chapter X. Elections 98 

Registration of Voters — Time of Elections — 
Election Officials — How to Mark the Ballot — 
How Ballots Are Counted — The Australian Ballot 
— The Short Ballot — Corrupt Practices Act — 
Voting-machines — School-houses for Polling- 
places — Cost of Elections. 

Chapter XL Taxation 108 

Direct and Indirect — Village and School Taxes 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

— Town, County, City, and State Taxes — Tax 
Districts — How Taxes Are Assessed — County 
Board of Equalization — The Collection of Taxes 
— State Taxes: Corporation Tax, Inheritance 
Tax, Other State Taxes — State Board of Equali- 
zation — Federal Taxes: Custom Duties, Internal 
Revenue and Excise Taxes, the Income Tax 
— Public Debt, Bonds — Sinking Funds — The 
Budget — The Pork-barrel. 

Chapter XII. Public Highways 121 

State Roads, Their Cost and Maintenance — 
Town and County Highways — Bond Issues — 
City Streets — Street Cleaning — Parks — City 
Planning — The Value of Beauty. 

Chapter XIII. Courts 130 

Criminal and Civil Cases — Justices' Courts — 
Police and Magistrates' Courts — County Courts 
— Surrogates' Courts — Court of Claims — Su- 
preme Courts, Appellate Divisions — Court of 
Appeals — Courts of Record — Federal Courts: 
United States District Courts, United States 
Court of Claims, United States Circuit Court 
of Appeals, United States Supreme Court — Con- 
stitutionality of Laws — Injimctions. 

Chapter XIV. The Punishment of Crime . . 141 
The Grand Jury — Trial by Jury — Jury Service 
— Women Jurors — The Police — Prison Reform: 
— The Indeterminate Sentence, Probation — 
Jails and Prisons — City Farms — The Preven- 
tion of Crime. 

Chapter XV. Women Offenders and the Law 150 

Drunkenness — Prostitution — Night Courts — 
Fines — Delinquent Girls — Girl Victims — Houses 
of Detention — Women Judges — Policewomen. 

Chapter XVI. Public Education 161 

The School District — The Township Board of 
Education — The Annual School Meeting — 
The School Budget — The Supervisory District 
— The District Superintendent — The Union 
Free School District — Physical Training — 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

School Money — Normal Schools — ^University of 
the State of New York — Board of Regents — 
National Commissioner of Education — Agricul- 
tural Colleges — Farmers' Institutes — Vocational 
Training — State Scholarships — Domestic Train- 
ing — Schools as Community Centers — Health — 
Co-operation. 

Chapter XVII. Health and Recreation . . 174 

Housing — Tenement House Inspection — Dance- 
halls — Playgrounds — Vacation Schools — Recre- 
ation Centers — Municipal Dance-halls — Munici- 
pal Bathing Beaches — The Movies — Causes of 
Juvenile Crime — Rural Needs. 

Chapter XVIII. The Care of Dependent and 

Delinquent Children 185 

By County, City, and State — Institutional 
versus Family Care — Lack of Definite Authority 
— Boarding Out — Boards of Child Welfare — 
Widowed Mothers* Pensions — The Delinquent 
Child — Children's Courts — Feeble-minded Chil- 
dren. 

Chapter XIX. Child Wage-earners .... 197 
The Federal Child Labor Law — New York 
State Child Labor Laws — Child Workers and 
Delinquency — Street Trades — Night-messenger 
Service — Rural Child Workers — War and Chil- 
dren. 

Chapter XX. Public Charities 209 

State and Private Control of Charitable In- 
stitutions — State Board of Charities, Duties, 
Powers — Proposed Changes in the Reorgani- 
zation of the Board — County and City Institu- 
tions — Department of State and Alien Poor — 
Local Boards of Managers — State Department 
of Inspection — Provision for the Feeble-minded 
— Recommendations of the State Board — 
State Commission in Lunacy — State Prison 
Commission. 

Chapter XXL The Protection of Working- 
women 221 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Conditions Before the War — Number of Women 
Wage-earners — Clothing Manufacturers, Laun- 
dries, Restaurant Workers, Textile Operators — 
War and Woman's Work — The Eight-hour Day, 
New Occupations, Messenger Service, Wages — 
Minimum Wage — Protection Needed. 

Chapter XXII. Americanization 232 

The Need of a United Country — The Immi- 
grant a National Asset — Housing Conditions — 
A Common Language — Night Schools — Neigh- 
borhood Classes for Women — Home Teaching 
of Women — Naturalization — Uniform Laws for 
NaturaUzation — Ignorance of Laws — The Study 
of Citizenship. 

Chapter XXIII. Patriotism and Citizenship . 243 

Appendix 253 

Some Definitions: Habeas Corpus — The Initia- 
tive and Referendum — The Recall — Injunction 
and Abatement Act — The Tin Plate Ordinance — 
Prohibition, High License, Local Option, the 
Guttenburg Method of Controlling the Liquor 
Traffic— The Single Tax— The House of Gover- 
nors — Proportional Representation — Workmen's 
Compensation Laws. 

Chart of Officials for Whom You Can Vote . 261 

When Elections Are Held. 



FOREWORD 

It is one thing for women to win the vote 
and a totally different one for them to know 
how to use that vote so that it will count to 
the "^greatest good of the state. The key- 
note of woman's long struggle for the ballot 
has been her ardent desire for service. Now 
that she has been given the vote, she is eager 
to learn how she can best render that service. 

Citizenship has been very lightly regarded 
by our country in the past. It has been 
given to the immigrant without any cere- 
mony, in the midst of the sordid surround- 
ings of a local court-room ; it has come to the 
boy of twenty-one without any special prep- 
aration on his part ; it has often been bought 
and sold. It remains now for women to treat 
it with a new dignity and to give it the im- 
portance it deserves. 

Civics should be taught in every school in 
the land. The ballot should be regarded as 
a sacred trust. Every man and woman who 
grows up under the protection of our flag 



FOREWORD 

should feel the obligation to give of his and 
her best to make our democracy a better 
expression of our ideals. 

I hope that this book will help to start 
some new citizens in the right way. 

Carrie Chapman Catt. 



PREFACE 

There never seems to be just the right 
book on a topic that one has very much at 
heart. 

When the vote for New York women was 
an accompHshed fact there came a sudden 
and pressing need for a book on government 
that would give the busy housewife or the 
overworked woman in the factory the simple 
outline of her government and the officials 
for whom she was going to vote, with the 
duties and requirements of their positions; 
but that was not all. There are certain 
problems of government to-day and certain 
departments of politics which have to do 
with things which are of special interest to 
women. The protection and care of human 
life has always been woman's great business 
in life. So a book on civics for women must 
include an outline of what the state is doing 
for its children, for its poor, for working- 
women, for public health and recreation; in 
short, for the same things in government 



PREFACE 

with which she is concerned in her individual 
capacity as a woman. These are also the 
departments of government which seem to 
need her attention the most. It is natural 
that men should have given the greater care 
in government to business and material 
affairs. To counterbalance this, woman's 
work and votes are needed for the human 
side. 

To be an intelligent voter some knowledge 
of the structure of government is needed. 
Also one must know the duties of an office 
in order to judge of the qualifications of 
would-be candidates, so Chapters II to VII 
give an outline of the different divisions of 
government, beginning with the local offices, 
for which women will cast their first votes, 
and going through the State to the National 
Government. Chapters VII to X, inclusive, 
deal with the actual casting of the ballot in 
the elections, the organization of political 
parties, and the management of elections. 
The major part of the book is then given to 
those departments of political affairs in 
which women are undoubtedly most deeply 
concerned. 

The substance of some of these chapters 
has been used as a correspondence course in 
citizenship by the New York State Woman 



PREFACE 

Suffrage Party, and is published by special 
arrangement with them. Through four years 
of continuous intensive educational work in 
the State the Woman Suffrage Party has 
come closely in touch with many thousands 
of women ; it has learned to know their ideal- 
ism, their fervent belief in democracy, and 
their desire to make democracy more effec- 
tive. It knows also that there are many 
other women who have never thought about 
voting, but who are equally conscientious 
and are now eager to learn. It knows the 
problems of women as does probably no 
other organization of women. 

It also has a deep feeling of responsibility. 
It feels its obligation to furnish all the help 
possible to the new women voters to meet 
their new duties wisely. It hopes to bring 
home to women the human side of govern- 
ment, to arouse a desire for further study, and 
especially to encourage them to regard their 
vote as a trust to be used not to advance par- 
tisan politics, but to further human welfare. 

This is a book for amateur citizens written 
by an amateur citizen. It may be found to 
differ from the others in that it deals with 
the subject of civics from the standpoint of 
the woman voter. 

Gertrude Foster Brown. 



YOUR VOTE 
AND HOW TO USE IT 



YOUR VOTE 
AND HOW TO USE IT 



POLITICS AND woman's INTERESTS 



THE average woman has never thought 
of politics as having an intimate rela- 
tion to her daily life. She has not realized 
that government has a direct effect on the 
comfort and happiness of the family in the 
home, on the successful upbringing of chil- 
dren, and on the health and safety of men 
and women workers. 

She has known vaguely that government 
controls the fundamental question of war or 
peace; that it has to do with taxation; that 
it handles the mail, but that it also plays a 
large part in domestic and social life is a 
fact that she has only recently been learning. 

hi 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

With the rapid extension of the vote to 
women, especially the recent granting of suf- 
frage to the women of New York State, there 
is a new and wide-spread interest in how 
government works, and a realization of the 
importance of good government and the dire 
peril of bad government. Women are con- 
scientious; they are accepting their new 
responsibilities with much seriousness. They 
are eager to learn how to be good citizens. 
The war also has made everybody think. 
It has made government seem a more per- 
sonal affair. 

WHAT IS GOVERNMENT? 

Government is the management of those 
common affairs of a people which can be 
handled in a more effective and more econom- 
ical way by a community acting together 
than by each individual acting for himself. 

In a sparsely settled community govern- 
ment is less apparent than in a city. Its 
functions are simple. Sometimes it does not 
seem very important. But as people con- 
gregate closer together it becomes more com- 
plicated and comes in closer and closer touch 
with the individual and family life. 

For example, a man living in the country 
may rely on himself to protect his home and 

[2] 



POLITICS AND WOMAN'S INTERESTS 

property; but in the city life and property 
are better protected by a police force than 
if each individual citizen had to provide his 
own protection. A woman in a pioneer 
country may bring up her child as she pleases. 
She may teach him when and how she chooses. 
But as population increases and government 
is established, a large part of the child's 
training is dictated by it. He must go to 
school at a certain age; he must stay there 
so many hours a day ; he must study certain 
things in a certain way. He cannot be put 
to work until he has reached a certain age. 
If he contracts a contagious disease the city 
takes control of the case. 

Directly and indirectly the government in 
a city affects a woman's life and interests in 
innumerable ways. 

She is dependent on it for the light and 
sunshine that comes into her home. Laws 
concerning housing and building and tene- 
ment departments of government are very 
important to the health, comfort, and even 
decency of the family. She is dependent on 
government for the safety of the milk she has 
to feed her baby. The health of the family 
depends as much on the city department of 
health as on the mother's care. It is of the 
utmost importance to the city mother that 

[3] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

the streets be kept clean, because they are 
usually the only place that her children have 
in which to play. The street cleaning de- 
partment, therefore, touches her closely. It 
is of vital moment to her that the streets 
be kept free of criminal influence, therefore 
the management of the police department 
is of great importance to her. If the town 
is run ''wide open" it may mean that her 
husband's wages may be dissipated. The 
way in which the excise law and the laws 
against gambling are enforced is a matter 
which deeply concerns her. 

If she lives in the country the relation of 
government to her life is not so varied, but 
she is still dependent on it for the education 
of her child, for the socializing influences of 
the community, and for much of the business 
prosperity of the farm. Are telephone con- 
nections cheap, are the roads passable at all 
seasons, are good market facilities provided? 
These are all questions that greatly affect her 
welfare, and they depend largely on the 
government. 

It is the business of government to main- 
tain peace and to provide for the common 
defense. 

This is a function of government so funda- 
mental as to need little comment. It is the 

[4] 



POLITICS AND WOMAN'S INTERESTS 

first essential to the safe existence of the 
home. 

It is the business of government to assure 
justice and equality of treatment to all 
citizens. 

This becomes more difficult as population 
increases and life grows more complicated. 
Nearly every human being to-day is depend- 
ent on the work of other people for most of 
the necessities, as well as the comforts and 
conveniences, of life. The food that we eat, 
the cotton and wool in the garments we wear, 
the coal that heats our houses, we owe to the 
toil of other people who in return may be 
dependent on us for something that they use. 
It is a matter that concerns every one of us 
that in producing these things that we use 
htrnian life shall be safeguarded, that living 
wages shall be paid, and that standards of 
civilization shall be maintained and ad- 
vanced. 

As individuals we cannot control condi- 
tions even for ourselves, as individuals we 
cannot control them for other people; but 
all of us working together in government can 
secure these fundamental necessities for 
every one of us. 

Since government in a democracy is made 
by the people themselves, it is a responsi- 

[s] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

bility that every one should share to help 
secure these common needs. 

It is also a function of modern govern- 
ment to raise the standard of health, educa- 
tion, and living. 

Plato said, * * Only that state is healthy and 
can thrive which unceasingly endeavors to 
improve the individuals who constitute it." 

Society must be protected from vicious and 
destructive influence; the intelligence and 
knowledge of all the people are needed for 
the common good. 

As human beings have become dependent 
on one another, the well-being or the degrada- 
tion of one individual or family does not stop 
there. It strongly influences the welfare of 
other individuals and families. For their 
own protection people have not only the 
right, but the obligation to make a govern- 
ment that shall foster and advance the 
common welfare. 

The basis oj good government is the golden 
rule. To help secure for others the protec- 
tion that you demand for yourself is part of 
the obligation of good citizenship. The 
honesty and efficiency of government in a 
republic like the United States depend on 
the voters; on their sense of responsibility, 
and on the intelligence with which they use 

[6] 



POLITICS AND WOMAN'S INTERESTS 

their power. The feeling of responsibility of 
each individual, for the public welfare, cannot 
be too highly developed. 

Democracy can only be a success in the 
degree that the people who make that 
democracy are determined that it shall deal 
with justice, and that it shall offer oppor- 
tunity to every one within its borders. They 
must also be vigilant to see that it shall deal 
wisely with their common problems as they 
develop. 

To be a citizen of such a democracy and 
to have the power to help it grow along these 
lines, to be able to serve one's country loyally 
in the full efficiency of citizenship, are great 
privileges. 



II 

TOWN AND COUNTY GOVERNMENT 

THE United States is both a Democracy 
and a Republic. 

A Democracy means, literally, a govern- 
ment by the people. 

A Republic is a democracy in which the 
people elect representatives to carry on the 
government for them. 

The United States is a federation of forty- 
eight States. For convenience of government 
each State is subdivided into smaller units. 

In every political division of the State 
there are three distinct departments: 

The Legislative, thepart that makes the law. 

The Administrative, the part that admin- 
isters the law. 

The Judicial, the part that interprets the 
law. 

Even in a sparsely settled community peo- 
ple have certain interests in common. Roads 
have to be made, schools established, the 

[8] 



TOWN AND COUNTY GOVERNMENT 

poor cared for, and taxes levied. Who does 
these things? If a cow breaks into a neigh- 
bor's cornfield, or if there is an epidemic, 
whose business is it to look after it? 



THE TOWN GOVERNMENT 

With the exception of the^ school district, 
which has to do only with the public schools, 
the town^ or township is the smallest division 
of the State for purposes of government. 
The government of the town is the nearest 
approach we have to a direct government by 
the people themselves. 

The Town Meeting brings people together 
to discuss their local affairs, to elect officers, 
and to appropriate the money necessary to 
carry out their plans. It is held in New York 
State every other year, some time between 
February ist and May ist. 

The business of the town meeting includes 
the disposal of town property, the care of 
bridges and roads, the care of the poor, the 
number of constables, matters concerning 
public health, and the care of stray animals. 

Any citizen has a right to bring up any sug- 
gestion he pleases for the people to consider 

1 The word town as used in New York does not mean 
a village or city, but a political division. 

[9] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

and debate in open meeting, and then to take 
whatever action they choose. In a matter of 
taxation or incurring a town debt, only tax- 
paying citizens can vote. 

Where it exists at its best, the town meeting 
has an admirable effect in stimulating interest 
in local affairs and in developing public spirit. 
A special town meeting can be called by a 
petition of twenty-five taxpayers, or at the 
request of certain officials. 

The town meeting is a form of government 
particularly adapted to a small community. 
With the increase in population it has been 
given up in many counties, and the election 
of town officers now usually takes place at 
the regular fall election. 

Town Officers: The Supervisor is the chief 
executive officer of the town, and is elected 
for two years. He receives and pays out all 
money except that raised for public roads 
and the care of the town poor. If the town 
roads are in bad condition or if the poor are 
not properly cared for, he is responsible. 
The honesty and efficiency of the adminis- 
tration of town affairs are in his hands. He 
represents the town on the county board of 
supervisors. 

The Town Board consists of the super- 
visor, town clerk, and at least two justices of 

[lo] 



TOWN AND COUNTY GOVERNMENT 

the peace. It meets regularly twice a year. 
It is the business of the board to receive the 
accounts of the town officers and examine 
them, to hear and decide claims against the 
town. An appeal may be taken from their 
decision to the county board of supervisors. 
They may also frame propositions to be sub- 
mitted to the voters, and may borrow money 
to meet appropriations made at the town 
meeting. They may appoint a physician to 
aid as health officer for the town. 

The Town Clerk is the general secretary 
and bookkeeper for the town. He records 
births, marriages, and deaths, chattel mort- 
gages and property notes. He keeps the 
records of the town meetings. He posts 
election notices. He issues marriage licenses, 
permissions for burial, hunting licenses, etc. 

The Superintendent of Roads has charge 
of building and maintaining the town high- 
ways, bridges, and culverts outside of the in- 
corporated villages. He is paid by the day, 
and may hire machines and horses or pur- 
chase tools and material for road making. 
The opportunities for dishonest money in this 
oflfice have sometimes made it sought after. 
A contract may contain a ** rake-off," bills 
may be padded, and materials accepted 
which are different from specifications. 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

Three Assessors and a Collector: The 

assessors determine the value of taxable 
property in the town, and divide the amount 
of taxes to be raised among the owners of 
the property. If a property-owner is dissatis- 
fied with his assessment he may appear in 
August before the assessors and ''swear off'' 
what he considers an exorbitant amount. 
Assessment rolls are made out, and it is the 
duty of the collector to collect the money. 
Town collectors are paid i per cent, on 
taxes collected within thirty days after due, 
with increasing fees for collecting taxes after 
that time. This is an encouragement to 
the collector to be dilatory in his collections, 
and is a disadvantage to the town. It has 
been suggested that penalties for delinquent 
taxes should go to the town and not to the 
collector. 

The Town Constables have the duty of 
keeping the peace and carrying out the orders 
of the justice of the peace. They may ar- 
rest people accused or suspected of crime. 
There may not be more than five in a town. 

The Overseers of the Poor are charged 
with the duty of looking after persons who 
are destitute and have no relative to sup- 
port them. They may assist such persons in 
their own homes or send them to the county 

[12] 



TOWN AND COUNTY GOVERNMENT 

poorhouse. This office often conflicts with 
that of county superintendent of the poor, 
and it has been recommended that it be 
abolished. 

The Justice of the Peace is the judicial 
officer of the town. Each town has four such 
officers, each elected for four years. The 
justice of the peace may hear civil cases where 
the stim involved is not over two hundred 
dollars. He may try petty offenses of all 
kinds, breaches of the peace, drunkenness, 
and petty larceny. He may issue warrants 
and may hold persons suspected of serious 
crime to await action by the grand jury. 

Terms of Town Officials: Each official is 
elected for two years, except the justices of 
the peace and sometimes one or two assessors, 
who are elected for four years. 

Pay of Town Officials: Most of these 
officers are paid from two to four dollars 
for every day of actual service. The town 
clerk, justices of the peace, and constables 
are paid certain fees. 

THE COUNTY 

The county comprises a number of town- 
ships. It is a poHtical division created by 
the State to administer certain local affairs, 
to act as agent for the State, to collect State 

[13] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

taxes, and to enforce State law. The county 
owns the court-house and jail; it can sue 
or be sued. 

In most of New York State the county- 
has become more important in. administer- 
ing local affairs than the town. New York 
State has sixty- two counties, of which five 
are in Greater New York. They vary in 
size from Richmond County (Staten Island), 
which has only 59 square miles, to St. 
Lawrence County, which has 2,880 square 
miles. They vary also in population from 
Hamilton County, with 2,000 people, to 
New York County with two million. 

Elected Officials: The Board of Super- 
visors is the legislative body of the county. 
This board is composed of the supervisors 
elected by each township, and also one mem- 
ber from each ward of a city in the county. 
They elect their own chairman. 

The board of supervisors have the custody 
and control of the court-house, jail, poor- 
house, and all county property ; they receive 
and decide claims against the county; they 
direct the raising of money by taxation to 
meet the expenses of the county and the 
county's share in State taxes; they fix sal- 
aries for county officials; borrow money for 
county needs; they regulate laws for the 

[14] 



TOWN AND COUNTY GOVERNMENT 

protection of fish and game; they open 
county highways, erect bridges, and may 
provide hospitals for tuberculosis. They 
also act as a board of canvassers to canvass 
the returns after an election. 

The Sheriff, the executive officer of the 
county, is elected to enforce the law. On 
him rests the security of life and property. 
He must preserve the peace, arrest offenders 
against the law, and hold them in custody. 
He must not allow fear or sympathy to inter- 
fere with his enforcement of the law. He 
summons jurors and witnesses for county 
lawsuits and executes the orders of the 
court. Until recently the fees which he re- 
ceived made the sheriff's office one much 
sought after. These now go to the treasurer 
in many counties, and the sheriff is paid a 
salary. He cannot serve two consecutive 
terms. He may appoint an under-sheriff and 
deputy sheriffs. 

The District Attorney is the public prose- 
cutor for the county, and brings suit "in the 
name of the people of the State." He is 
also the legal adviser for county affairs. 
It is his business to protect the public against 
crime of all kinds. If corruption exists in 
any department, it is his duty to bring it to 
light. The good order of the community 

[15] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

and the efficiency of government in the 
county depend much on him. He deter- 
mines what cases shall come before the grand 
jury. 

The County Clerk keeps all the important 
records for the county, including deeds, 
mortgages, and maps, and makes out the 
election certificates. Public documents must 
always be open for public inspection. In 
some counties there is a recorder of deeds. 
The clerk also acts as clerk of the county 
court. His office has an income from fees 
which used to go to the clerk and made this 
office very lucrative. In most counties the 
fees now go to the county treasurer, and the | 

clerk is paid a salary. 

The County Treasurer receives and dis- 
burses all public moneys for the county. 
He receives money from the town supervisor, 
collected for county and State taxes, the 
latter of which he pays to the State treasurer. 
He receives from the State money for the 
public schools, which he in turn passes on 
to the towns. He must give a bond for the 
safe-keeping of these public funds. He also 
chooses the bank in which public funds are 
kept, and ought to give a careful accounting 
of the interest which must go into the county 
treasury. 

[i6] 



TOWN AND COUNTY GOVERNMENT 

The Superintendent of the Poor disburses 
the money raised to care for the poor of the 
county. The superintendents of all the pub- 
lic charities in the county make their reports 
to him, and he is responsible for them to the 
board of supervisors. He also makes an an- 
nual report to the State Board of Charities. 

Coroners: From one to four coroners may 
be elected in each county, except those in 
Greater New York. Their duty is to investi- 
gate sudden and suspicious deaths, and some- 
times the cause of a suspicious fire. They 
are often practising physicians or they may 
employ physicians to conduct inquests or 
autopsies. 

The County Superintendent of Highways 
is appointed by the board of supervisors for 
four years. 

The County Judge presides over the county 
court. His salary varies and is fixed by 
State law, although paid by the county. 
This ofhce should be most carefully filled. 
The county judge is not only important be- 
cause of his decisions, but he is one of the 
most powerful men politically in the county. 
Only a man of strict probity should be elected 
to this office. 

The Surrogate administers estates of per- 
sons deceased, controls the probate of wills, 

[17] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

and appoints guardians for the property of 
minors. His term is six years. In counties 
with small populations the county judge acts 
as surrogate. 

The term of office for county officials is 
three years, except that of the supervisors 
elected by the towns for two years, and the 
judges elected for six years. 

Political Honesty: The question is often 
asked, are these local offices honestly man- 
aged? Are there possible loopholes for cor- 
ruption? The following answer to these 
questions was given recently by one in a po- 
sition to know: 

''The impelling motive of most politicians 
is the enjoyment of a sense of power and in- 
fluence. The day laborer who loafs through 
his political job and the salaried higher officer 
who neglects his work and engages in private 
business are examples of the most usual and 
formidable class of political grafters. The 
heads of departments and higher elected 
officers are apt to do their work as well as 
they can, in order to qualify themselves for 
re-election. The days when a man could dis- 
honestly make a fortune in one political term 
are past in this country, and waste, favorit- 
ism, and stupidity are the only dangerous 
elements which we must look for. 

[i8] 



TOWN AND COUNTY GOVERNMENT 

"The greatest waste in expenditure of 
moneys by boards of supervisors is usually 
on county roads and highways, where in 
some years hundreds of thousands of dollars 
are lost by unscientific building and up- 
keep. This also is an easy way for a dis- 
honest supervisor to reward political sup- 
porters by paying them for work on the road 
which they do not do. The same things ob- 
tain in the matter of purchase of supplies 
and the county printing. The cure for this 
is to have all expenditures beyond a nominal 
amount made on public bids. 

"Another opportunity of abuse is the pay- 
ment of supervisors in fees. Many counties 
still adhere to the old rule of fees: $4 per 
day for attending board meetings; 8 cents 
per mile for going and returning; $4 per 
day while actually engaged in any investi- 
gation or any other lawful duty. For copy- 
ing the assessment roll and extending taxes 
on the tax roll supervisors receive com- 
missions which, in some counties, run into 
thousands of dollars. The remedy for the 
numberless evils which accompany the fee 
system is to put the supervisors on a salary 
basis. 

"The sheriff has charge of the prisoners in 
the jail. Therein lies his opportunity for 

[19] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

dishonesty and extortion. Sheriffs should re- 
ceive salaries and not fees, and every county 
should have a well-organized board of women 
visitors to inspect the jails and lockups at 
least every two weeks. 

''The district attorney has an opportunity 
for dishonesty in the expenditure of the con- 
tingent fund, which is always provided for 
him, and which he can pay out with little 
or no check. Fortunately, however, most 
men elected to the office of district attorney 
are of high enough caliber to make the per- 
centage of dishonesty almost nil, 

''If the county clerk is paid by fees it is 
difficult to expect an absolute, ethical fulfil- 
ment of his duty, and probable that he will 
be working for himself rather than the 
county. 

^ 'The duties of the county superintendent of 
the poor are in continual conffict with those of 
the overseers of the poor. The opportunity 
to waste and misappropriate county funds 
without detection is not as great as it used 
to be, because of the close supervision of the 
State Board of Charities; but the county 
superintendent has wide discretion in giving 
alms and caring for the county poor, and the 
office is, therefore, usually sought by a minor 
political leader, who, by virtue of his office, 

ho] 



TOWN AND COUNTY GOVERNMENT 

can provide for his dependent supporters, 
which he usually does in the sincere belief 
that he is properly dispensing charity. In 
no case, however, is any great amount 
wasted, and on the whole the work is fairly 
well done. 

*' Justices of the peace and constables and 
town clerks usually receive fees. They 
should be put on a salary basis. 

* ' Overseers of the poor have opportunities 
for fees and misappropriation of small 
amounts because they are allowed liberal 
discretion in selecting objects of the town's 
bounty. The office should be wiped out, the 
distinction between town and county poor 
abolished; all the work should be done 
through the county superintendent of the 
poor, who should be responsible to the State 
Board of Charities." 

The Relation of Country to City, State, 
and Nation: While the problems of govern- 
ment in rural districts are simple and few, 
the close relations of city and country have 
made the wise management of country affairs 
of great importance to those who live in 
cities. On the other hand, the handling of 
the more complex and difficult city problems 
are of equally grave importance to country 
dwellers. Comfortable, prosperous Hfe in a 

[21] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

rural community is dependent not only on 
local conditions, but also on State and 
National government. 

Good roads are equally important to city 
and country, and they depend largely on the 
State. The kind of education that the vil- 
lage or country school gives will determine 
the intelligence and earning capacity of many 
of the coming generations of city dwellers, 
and this instruction is determined both by 
the State and by the local school boards. 

Low telephone rates and good interurban 
car lines will put the woman on the farm in 
close touch with her neighbors, and so will 
stimulate her interest in outside affairs. 
Healthy community life and rural amuse- 
ments will keep the young people content 
at home and help prevent the drift toward 
the city. The farmer's produce is handled 
by city shops and markets, and the manu- 
factured articles of city factories go into the 
homes of every rural district. 

Not only are city and country dependent 
on each other, but also one part of the 
country is dependent on some other part, far 
distant, for some of the necessities of life. 
Our cotton comes from the South, wheat 
comes from the West, sugar may come from 
Colorado or Cuba. The whole country is 

[22] 



TOWN AND COUNTY GOVERNMENT 

linked together in trade relationship, and 
freight rates and interstate commerce are 
controlled by the Federal government. 

The good citizen, then, has a vital interest 
not only in his supervisor and local affairs, 
but in both State and National government. 
When he realizes that the size of his income, 
the comfort of his family life, the welfare of 
his children, and their getting on in life, de- 
pend to an appreciable degree on govern- 
ment, he and she will begin to take a livelier 
interest in politics. The discussion of these 
affairs in the home will serve to stimulate 
the interest of the entire family in what is, 
after all, an important part of their business. 

A small community has one problem all 
its own. If there is some offense against the 
public welfare, no one wants to complain. 
It may be something merely disagreeable, or 
it may be a serious menace to public health; 
but every one is slow to make a fuss about 
it because he cannot hide his identity, and he 
is afraid he might become unpopular. This 
fear is usually groundless because it is likely 
that most of his neighbors agree with him 
in wanting to have the condition changed. 
A country community needs fearless, public- 
spirited citizens. 



Ill 



THE INCORPORATED VILLAGE AND CITY 
GOVERNMENT 

AS population grows government needs 
increase. When people establish their 
homes close together and form a populous 
community within a limited area, it becomes 
necessary to have streets opened up, side- 
walks made, the streets lighted, protection 
from fire, and other things that the town- 
ship does not provide. 

A territory of not over one square mile, 
having a population of at least two hundred 
people, may be incorporated as a village. 
On a petition of the taxpayers they may vote 
on the proposition, whether or not they shall 
become an incorporated village, and have a 
government of their own distinct from that 
of the town. Even if they incorporate they 
still remain a part of the town, and take the 
same part in town government as before. 

There Are Four Classes of Villages: First 
class, those with a population of 5,000 or 

[24] 



VILLAGE AND CITY GOVERNMENT 

over; second class, with a population between 
3,000 and 5,000; third class, with a popula- 
tion of between 1,000 and 3,000; fourth 
class, with a population of less than 1,000. 
In many Western States a village of one or 
two thousand inhabitants usually becomes a 
city. In New York State there are villages 
of more than 15,000 population. 

The Village President, who serves one 
year, is the chief executive, and serves with- 
out pay. He is the head of the village 
board of trustees, and in small villages is the 
head of the police. Local order, peace, 
health, and sanitation depend on him. 

The Board of Trustees consists of from 
two to four men in villages of the third and 
fourth class ; from two to six men in villages 
of the second class, and from two to eight 
men in villages of the first class, elected for 
two years, half of them elected each year. 
They serve without pay. They make ordi- 
nances for the government of the village and 
administer its affairs. They decide where 
sidewalks shall be built, whether streets shall 
be paved, how garbage shall be handled; 
they provide light and a water-supply; they 
provide for the raising of money by taxes; 
if a sewerage system is needed it must be 
done under the supervision of the State 
3 [25] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

Board of Health. Propositions relating to 
the large expenditure of funds must be sub- 
mitted to the taxpayers. 

Questions of police, water-supply, fire pro- 
tection, lights, sewers, are sometimes handled 
by the board of trustees, or if the village is 
large enough there may be separate boards 
or commissioners established for some of 
these things. 

A Fire Department, with fire house, hose 
and wagon, exists in most villages, voluntary 
in small places, and a paid force in the larger 
villages. The fire company is a popular de- 
partment of public service, because of the 
social pleasure involved and because firemen 
are exempt from jury duty. 

A Treasurer, Assessors, a Collector, and a 
Village Clerk, are usually elected and some- 
times a Street Commissioner. Not infre- 
quently the latter office is considered a sine- 
cure, and streets littered with waste paper and 
other refuse are conimon in the average village. 
The commissioner should be held up to his 
duty by all the voters. 

A Board of Health of from three to seven 
members must be appointed by the trustees 
to work in connection with the State Board 
of Health. This board elects a health officer, 
who must be a physician. The business of 

[26] 



VILLAGE AND CITY GOVERNMENT 

the board is to watch over drains, cess- 
pools, to prevent nuisances and contagion 
from disease. Health officers should be 
vigilant and morally courageous, otherwise 
the community will pay in illness. 

A Police Justice, elected for four years, 
handles cases involving violations of village 
ordinances. The board of trustees may ap- 
point a village attorney to represent them 
in case of lawsuits. 

The Annual Village Election usually takes 
place the third Tuesday in March. A special 
village election, similar to a town meeting, 
may be called for taxpaying citizens to vote 
on special questions, such as the removal of 
garbage at public expense, or the purchase 
of water or lighting plants. 

A water-supply is usually furnished by a 
village of any size. An abundant supply is 
necessary, not only for homes, but for fire 
protection and for any sewerage system. 
New York villages and cities are very well 
lighted. Whether there should be public or 
private ownership of public utilities is a 
question which is much discussed. While the 
water-supply is usually owned by the mu- 
nicipality, the lighting system more often 
belongs to a private company. 

Sewage disposal is a matter which has to 

[27] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

be taken up sooner or later by a village as it 
grows in population. For too long our vil- 
lages have polluted the convenient stream. 
They have been slow to study the question, 
and to dispose of sewage and garbage in a 
way that is both satisfactory and economical. 
Foreign cities often make a profit out of the 
disposal of their refuse, whereas it usually costs 
us money. These questions need more intelli- 
gent consideration than is usually given them. 

As a community grows larger it outgrows 
the simple form of village government and 
needs one more adapted to its complex and 
growing needs. 

The growth of cities in the past hundred 
years is phenomenal. In 1820, 83 per cent, 
of the people of the United States lived on 
farms; in 19 10 only 32 per cent. The prob- 
lems that a city government has to meet are 
many and difficult, especially in the cities 
of New York State, where a large proportion 
of the people are foreign-born, and where 
there is often a large floating population 
without civic pride or interest. In smaller 
communities, where every one is known, the 
fear of public opinion acts as a restraining 
influence which is not felt in a city where 
the individual identity is often submerged. 

[28] 



VILLAGE AND CITY GOVERNMENT 

A CITY GOVERNMENT works under a 
charter granted by the State, which Hmits its 
powers. These charters used to be made out 
separately for each city, and the legislature 
interfered with the management of the local 
affairs of a city in a way that caused a de- 
mand for ''Home rule" for cities. This has 
been partially granted, and cities in New 
York State now have large power to pro- 
vide public works and to control public 
education, health, safety, recreation, and 
charities, although they are still occa- 
sionally interfered with by the State leg- 
islature. 

The city is a direct agent of the State, and 
does not work as the village does, through 
the town and county. 

Three Classes of Cities: First-class cities 
have a population of 175,000 or over. Second- 
class cities have a population of 50,000 to 
175,000; third-class cities are all those with a 
population of less than 50,000. The object 
of this division is to enable the State to 
legislate for the needs of groups of cities 
instead of individual ones. The mayor of a 
city may veto a measure passed by the legis- 
lature, but if approved by the legislature 
and signed by the governor, it may become 
law in spite of his veto. 

1^9] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

The needs of government in a city are 
those of the village multiplied in size; they 
include police protection, care of the public 
health, a pure water-supply, inspection of 
food-suppUes, supervision of weights and 
measures, adequate housing inspection, eco- 
nomic and satisfactory garbage and sewage 
disposal, fire protection, gas and electric light- 
ing, good paving, clean streets, the care of 
dependents, maintenance of hospitals and li- 
braries, good educational facilities, transpor- 
tation, and many other activities. 

The general plan of government for cities 
is the same In all the classes. Cities of the 
first class are New York City, Buffalo, and 
Rochester (see Greater New York). 

Cities of the Second Class: The Mayor, 
who is elected for two years, is the chief 
executive officer. He has as important and 
responsible a position as any man at the head 
of a big corporation. The management of 
the city is in his hands. The health and wel- 
fare of its dwellers depend on him. While 
the city council legislates for the city, it is 
his business to see that laws and ordinances 
are enforced. He may veto an ordinance 
passed by the city council, although they may 
pass it over his veto by a two-thirds vote. 
The mayor has the power of appointing the 

[30] 



VILLAGE AND CITY GOVERNMENT 

heads of most of the important departments 
of the city's business. Sometimes the city 
council has to confirm an appointment, and 
an official can only be removed for good 
cause, and he must be given a hearing and 
an opportunity to answer charges. To elect 
to the position of mayor and to put the entire 
responsibility of all the complex problems of 
city government on a man of no training or 
fitness for the position, is to invite extrava- 
gance, incompetence, and corruption. 

For purposes of convenience in govern- 
ment a city is divided into subdivisions called 
wardSy and for elections, into certain voting 
precincts called election districts. 

The Board of Aldermen or The Common 
Council consists of one alderman chosen 
from each ward and a president of the 
board. They are elected for two years, and 
are to the city about the same that the 
board of trustees are to the village. Their 
powers are limited by the city charter. In 
general, they may pass ordinances relating to 
streets, sewers, parks, public buildingo, amuse- 
ments, grant franchises, regulate traffic, levy 
taxes, and borrow money under certain re- 
strictions for the use of the city. An alder- 
man has power over many local interests 
in his district. It is an important position 

[31] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

which in the main has been disregarded; it 
should be filled by a man chosen for fitness 
as a local representative and not as a reward 
for party service. No man should be elected 
to this board whom you would not trust as the 
custodian of your own property or the guar- 
dian of your children, because in a public 
sense that is what he is. 

The Board of Estimate and Apportion- 
ment is one of the most important depart- 
ments of city government. It has large con- 
trol over the city's finances, and determines 
its policies in all financial matters, fran- 
chises, privileges and permits, and makes the 
city budget. It consists of the mayor, comp- 
troller, corporation counsel, president of the 
common council, and the city engineer. 

The Department of Contract and Supply 
lets contracts for material and work required 
by the city. With the constant growth of 
city departments and city business, in which 
supplies and materials of many kinds are 
needed, this is also an important committee. 

Other elected officers are comptroller, 
treasurer, president of the common council, 
and assessors. 

The department of finance is managed by 
the comptroller and the treasurer. 

The department of assessment and taxa- 

[32] 



VILLAGE AND CITY GOVERNMENT 

tion, which makes the assessment rolls, con- 
sists of four assessors, elected two at a time, 
for four years each. 

The department of law is presided over 
by a corporation counsel, appointed by the 
mayor. The mayor also appoints the city 
engineer and the heads of the following 
departments : 

The department of public works, which 
controls the water-supply, streets, sewers, 
buildings, and public markets; the depart- 
ment of public safety, which includes the 
bureaus of gas and electricity; departments 
of police, health, charities and correction, and 
the board of education. 

Cities of the third class are not uniform 
in their government, but the general outline 
is the same as for cities of the second class. 

City Elections are held in the odd-num- 
bered years. State officials are elected in the 
even-numbered years. The purpose of set- 
ting a different time for these elections is to 
keep city politics independent of State politi- 
cal machines. Party issues have little to do 
with the problems of a city. It is evident 
that the government of a large city is a very 
important and complicated business. There 
are several offices which demand as great 
executive ability as would be required of a 

I33] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

man at the head of a large business corpora- 
tion. But city offices are usually given to 
men not for fitness, but because of party 
affiliation. Public sentiment is beginning to 
ask why high standards of competence and 
efficiency should not be as much demanded 
in public as in private business. 

The Budget: The heads of the various 
departments decide how much money will 
be required to run each department for the 
ensuing year. The Board of Estimate and 
Apportionment considers these requests and 
fixes the tax-rate necessary to raise the 
money needed (see Chapters IV and XI). 

Franchise Rights : A city has many sources 
of revenue of its own. Public utilities which 
furnish such necessities as transportation, 
water, gas, and electric light, earn enormous 
profits. In some places some of these things 
are owned by the city and the revenues go 
to the city. In others, the right to build 
and operate such a public business is given 
to a private corporation through a franchise. 
It is evident that these franchise rights are 
extremely valuable and should not be given 
away without adequate compensation to the 
city, as well as the insuring of good service. 
The rates that are charged, and the service 
rendered, are matters of vast importance to 

l34] 



VILLAGE AND CITY GOVERNMENT 

the people of a city. Municipal ownership 
of such utilities has never been as extensive 
in this country as abroad, but the sentiment 
in favor of it is growing. Franchise rights 
used to be given for long terms, even in per- 
petuity, but public sentiment now demands 
that they be subject to revision at reasonable 
intervals. Most cities to-day own their own 
water-supply, and some of them have their 
own lighting plants. 

Commission Form of Government: So 
many officials are needed to manage the com- 
plex affairs of a city that even if well quali- 
fied men are put up for office, with so many 
candidates to be elected, it is impossible for 
the voters to know the merit of them all. 
City government has been the weakest spot 
in our political life. In an effort to meet its 
defects, a number of cities have adopted the 
policy of doing away entirely with the form 
of government as outlined, and electing on a 
non-partisan ticket several commissioners 
(sometimes headed by a mayor), each one of 
whom is put in charge of a division of the 
city's administration, and made responsible 
for the work of this department. 

The fact is being recognized that skill and 
expert training are needed in pubHc officials; 
that the power should be given to a few men, 

[35] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

and that they should be held responsible for 
the success of their work. 

Buffalo now has a commission form of 
government. 

The City Manager Plan gives the manage- 
ment of a city to one man, who is engaged 
by the city, and held responsible for the con- 
duct of city affairs, in the same way that a 
large business enterprise would engage a 
manager. A city manager should be a man 
who has made a study and profession of city 
government. 



IV 

GREATER NEW YORK 

THE city of New York includes five 
counties: New York, Kings, Queens, 
Bronx, and Richmond. In one hundred 
years, the population of New York City grew 
from 50,000 to 4,000,000 people. It now has 
a population of nearly 6,000,000, which is 
about one-half the population of the State, 
and it is the second city in size in the world. 

The government of the city is strictly pre- 
scribed by its charter; for any improvement 
that it desires outside of the provisions of 
that charter, the city must go for permission 
to the State Legislature. 

For convenience in government the city is 
divided into five boroughs: Manhattan, 
Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, and Richmond 
(Staten Island). 

The Mayor is the chief executive of the 
city. He is elected for four years and has 
a salary of $15,000. He has powers of ap- 

[37] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

pointment and removal over a vast number 
of important positions, including the heads 
of the big city departments. Like the Gov- 
ernor of the State and the President of the 
United States, he initiates legislation by- 
sending once a year a message to the Board 
of Aldermen containing a general statement 
of the government and financial condition of 
the city, and recommending such measures 
as he deems advisable. He may ask for 
special legislation at any time. 

All ordinances and by-laws passed by the 
Board of Aldermen go to the Mayor for ap- 
proval. If he vetoes a measure, the Board 
of Aldermen may pass it over his veto by 
a two-thirds or three-fourths vote, with the 
exception of the granting of franchise rights, 
where his veto is absolute. 

The Comptroller is at the head of the 
financial affairs of the city. His term of 
office is four years, and salary $15,000. He 
may appoint three deputies at $7,500 each, 
an assistant deputy at $3,000, besides other 
heads of the various divisions of the finance 
department; but the minor positions are 
under the Civil Service. 

The President of the Board of Aldermen 
is elected for the same term as the Mayor, 
and receives a salary of $7,500. He takes 

[381 



GREATER NEW YORK 

the Mayor's place in case of absence or 
death. 

The Presidents of Manhattan, Bronx, and 
Brooklyn Boroughs receive $7,500 a year; 
of Queens and Richmond Boroughs, $5,000. 
They are elected for four years, and each 
president has general oversight over streets, 
bridges, sewers, and buildings in his borough. 
He may appoint a commissioner of public 
works, and a superintendent of buildings for 
his borough, and local school boards. In 
Queens and Richmond the borough presi- 
dents have charge of street-cleaning. 

The Board of Aldermen is the legislative 
body of the city. It consists of seventy- 
three men elected from Aldermanic districts. 
They serve for a term of two years, and re- 
ceive a salary of $2,000 each. This board 
makes the ordinances for the government of 
the city. It makes and enforces police, fire, 
building, health, and park regulations; it 
makes by-laws for the regulation of public 
markets, streets, public buildings, docks; for 
inspection of weights and measures ; regulat- 
ing places of amusement, height of buildings; 
Hcensing cabs, truckmen, and pawnbrokers, 
and regulations for the suppression of vice. A 
city clerk and a clerk of the board at a $7,000 
salary each, are appointed by the board. 

[39] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

The Board of Estimate and Apportion- 
ment is the most important of the city 
boards. It frames the city budget, which 
has to be adopted by the Board of Aldermen. 
It also passes on bills granting franchise 
rights. It represents the whole city, and 
consists of the Mayor, Comptroller, Presi- 
dent of the Board of Aldermen, each with 
three votes; Presidents of Manhattan and 
Brooklyn Boroughs, with two votes each; 
and Presidents of Bronx, Richmond, and 
Queens Boroughs, with one vote each. 

Among the important appointive positions 
of the city which are in the hands of the 
Mayor are the following: 

The Corporation Counsel, with a salary 
of $15,000 a year, is the head of the law 
department of the city, and is the city's legal 
adviser. He has over fifty assistant counsels 
to appoint, with salaries ranging from $3,000 
to $10,000 a year, and a host of deputy and 
junior assistants. 

The City Chamberlain receives and pays 
out all moneys for the city — salary $12,000. 
He may appoint a deputy at $5,000 a year. 
The abolishment of the office of Chamberlain 
as being unnecessary was recommended by a 
recent incumbent ; but it is too large a plum 
to be lightly discarded. 

[40] 



GREATER NEW YORK 

The President of the Department of Taxes 
and Assessments receives $8,000 a year. Six 
other tax commissioners are appointed with 
salaries of $7,000 each, two of whom must 
be of the opposing party. 

The Commissioners of Accounts, of Cor- 
rection, of Docks and Ferries, and of Health, 
the Fire Commissioner, Police Commissioner, 
Commissioner of Licenses, of Plants and 
Structures, of Public Charities, the Street- 
cleaning and Tenement House Commis- 
sioners, Commissioner of Water Supply, 
Gas and Electricity, and the chairman of the 
Parole Commission, all receive $7,500 a 
year; the Commissioner of Weights and 
Measures, $5,000 a year. 

There is a new Commissioner of Public 
Markets, and a Supervisor of the City Re cord j 
a city publication which must print all ordi- 
nances which involve the spending of city 
money, granting a franchise, or making a 
specific improvement, before they are passed 
by the Board of Aldermen. 

There are many other less important offices 
to be filled, and the Borough Presidents have 
still further appointments. 

The Board of Education has been reduced 
from forty-six to seven members, of whom 
two are now women. In addition there are 
4 [41] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

forty-six local school boards in the various 
school districts, each consisting of five mem- 
bers appointed by the Borough President 
and the District Superintendent of the local 
school district. These have now been di- 
vided among the seven members of the new 
School Board. 

The Board of Elections consists of four 
commissioners, two Republicans and two 
Democrats, appointed by the Board of Alder- 
men for two years, with a salary of $5,000 
each. This board determines the election- 
district boundaries, chooses about 2,000 
polling-places, and appoints about 17,000 
election officials. Since 191 5 the city has 
allowed school-houses and other public build- 
ings to be used as polling-places, and at the 
last election nearly 1,000 districts were sup- 
plied in this way. 

Local Improvement Boards: The city is 
divided into twenty-five districts, in each of 
which there is a Local Improvement Board, 
consisting of the Borough President and the 
Aldermen of the Aldermanic districts included 
in the local improvement district. 

County Government Within the City: 
Each county included in the city of New 
York has a separate county government, in- 
dependent of the city, with its sheriff, county 

[42] 



GREATER NEW YORK 

clerk, district attorney, and its county court 
in every county but New York. The office 
of Sheriff in New York County has been one 
of the highest paid offices in the State, be- 
cause of its fees. These have amounted to 
from $80,000 to $100,000 or more a year, and 
the county and Sheriff have divided them. 
The county now receives all the fees, and the 
Sheriff a salary of $12,000 a year; but he 
cannot be re-elected, and the term of office 
has been increased from two to four years. 

Courts — Supreme Courts: The first judi- 
cial department, and the first judicial district 
of the State are formed by New York and 
Bronx Counties. Brooklyn, Queens, and 
Richmond form the second. The Special 
and Trial terms of the Supreme Court try 
both criminal and civil cases with and with- 
out a jury, as in other counties. 

County Courts are held in Kings, Queens, 
Bronx, and Richmond Counties, and each of 
them except Richmond has a Surrogate's Court, 
New York County elects two Surrogates, 
for a term of fourteen years each, at a salary 
of $15,000 a year. In place of the County 
Court, New York County has a City Courts 
which tries civil suits and is a naturaliza- 
tion court, and a Court of General Sessions y ' 
which tries criminal cases. The Court oj 

[43] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

Special Sessions, with a chief justice and 
fifteen assistant justices appointed by the 
Mayor, tries cases of misdemeanors, and of- 
fenders sent to them by the City Magistrates. 
One division of this court is the Children's 
Court, with one presiding justice and five 
associate justices, with a court in each 
borough. These justices hold office for a 
term of ten years. 

Magistrates' Courts are held by a large 
number of magistrates, appointed by the 
Mayor, and a chief magistrate who has general 
supervision of them. Municipal Courts are 
held in various parts of the city to try small 
civil suits. There are forty-five Municipal 
Court districts, in each of which there is a 
judge elected by the people of the district 
for a term of ten years. 

There are separate Night Courts for both 
men and women, a Domestic Relations Court, 
which deals with cases of non-support of 
wives and children, and poor relations, and a 
Traffic Court, which deals solely with viola- 
tions of the traffic laws. 

To even mention the various institutions 
in the city of New York which are engaged 
in improving the health and social welfare 
' of the people would take many pages. There 

[44] 



GREATER NEW YORK 

is great need among them of a more clean- 
cut division of activities, and less over- 
lapping of authority. 

The Commissioner of Public Charities^ ap- 
pointed by the Mayor, is responsible for the 
care of the city's dependents. In 191 5, 
350,362 free lodgings were given to dis- 
possessed famiHes and needy men and women. 
There are 329 institutions receiving money 
from the city for the care of dependent chil- 
dren, and 22,753 children were in their charge 
on January i, 1916. The care which these 
children have received has been severely 
criticized. The conflicting authority of the 
State Board of Charities and the City Board 
of Inspection of Charitable Institutions, is 
said to be responsible for this. In the future, 
the city is to conduct its own inspections. 
Widows' pensions are administered for all of 
Greater New York by one Child Welfare 
Board of nine members appointed by the 
Mayor, of whom two must be women. They 
serve for a term of eight years without salary. 

The Tenement House Department looks after 
the 103,882 tenement buildings of the city, 
and has a force of 193 inspectors, of whom 
eight are women. There are still about 9,000 
dark rooms in the old tenements, built before 
the law was passed requiring a certain 

[45] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

amount of light and air, which have not been 
made over to meet the new requirements. 

The Street-cleaning Department employs 
regularly about 5,400 men at salaries rang- 
ing from $720 to $860 a year. 

The Board of Inebriety was organized to 
take charge of persons who are chronic ad- 
dicts to alcohol or drugs, to treat them as 
victims of disease, and send them to a farm 
where treatment looking toward a cure is 
combined with farm work, truck gardening, 
etc. The great needs of this work cannot be 
met until further accommodations are made 
for patients. 

The Municipal Civil Service Commission, 
consisting of three members appointed by the 
Mayor, maintains a regular staff of examiners 
of applicants for city positions. The regular 
payroll of the city includes nearly 85,000 
persons, of whom about 30,000 are not under 
the jurisdiction of the Civil Service. There 
are also about 20,000 others who are em- 
ployed part of the time. 

There is a free public employment bureau 
which is growing steadily and is placing over 
two thousand applicants a month, and a 
Commissioner of Weights and Measures. 

The management of each one of the large 
departments of city government requires 

[46] 



GREATER NEW YORK 

special and technical training. A corpora- 
tion manager would search the country for 
the best man to be found for each particular 
department. 

School-teachers and school superintendents 
are chosen because of their training and ex- 
perience. Minor city employees are ap- 
pointed from Civil Service lists; but the 
custom of American cities is to appoint 
men at the heads of city departments who 
have distinguished themselves for party ser- 
vice. 

The Budget for Greater New York is made 
up, beginning in June, and being adopted 
November ist. Estimates of the needs of 
each department for the coming year are 
submitted to the Board of Estimate and 
Apportionment, and are studied by sub- 
committees who conduct public hearings, 
when the representatives of each department 
and the official examiners report on their 
estimates and each item may be examined 
and discussed. A tentative budget is printed 
for public use and the last week in October 
public hearings are held. By November 
ist the budget must be adopted by the 
Board of Estimate and Apportionment and 
sent to the Board of Aldermen for their 
approval. 

[47] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

"Pay as you go'* was a financial policy 
adopted in 19 14 to relieve the tremendous 
piling up of future indebtedness of the city 
for permanent improvements of the non- 
revenue producing class. During the years 
1914-1918 an annually increasing proportion 
of the cost of these improvements was to 
be included in the tax budget, and by 19 18 
the entire cost was to be met by taxation, 
and thereafter no bonds were to be issued 
for this class of improvement. Every dollar 
borrowed at 4^2 per cent, interest on a fifty- 
year bond costs $1.69 in interest charges. 
While taxes are higher for a time under the 
pay-as-you-go plan, the actual cost of im- 
provements to the city is much less. 

The Mayor of New York City is the head 
of a corporation whose budget of expenditure, 
in 1916, was $212,000,000. Before the war 
the general expenses of the United States 
Steel Corporation were about $34,000,000 a 
year. The salary of the president of the 
Steel Corporation, or of any one of the largest 
business corporations of the country, would 
be from $50,000 to $100,000 a year. The 
Mayor of New York City receives $15,000 a 
year. But a business corporation would in- 
sist on having for president a man whose , 
training and business experience had made | 

[ 48 ] I 



GREATER NEW YORK 

him peculiarly fitted for the job, while our 
practice in choosing a man for mayor is to 
give little consideration to special training 
and experience in the work of city adminis- 
tration. 



V 

STATE GOVERNMENT 

THE State has such large powers over its 
people, and over all political divisions 
within it, that it is often called the ''Sover- 
eign State." The State regulates the owner- 
ship and transfer of property; it punishes 
murder and other crimes; it regulates busi- 
ness relations; it prescribes the form of mar- 
riage and the reasons for divorce; it au- 
thorizes the levying of taxes; it makes its 
own election laws and provides for education ; 
until recently it has controlled railroads 
operating within its borders. 

The State Constitution, adopted by a 
majority of the voters of the State, is the 
fundamental law of the State. It can only 
be changed by a constitutional convention 
or by the adoption of a constitutional 
amendment, which is done with considerable 
difficulty. 

A constitutional convention is an assem- 

[Sol 



STATE GOVERNMENT 

blage of men chosen by the voters to revise 
the constitution. The result of their dehb- 
eration is then submitted to the voters, who 
can accept or reject it. The last revision 
took place in 191 5 and was overwhelmingly- 
defeated at the polls. The law now provides 
for a revision every twenty years if the voters 
desire it. 

An amendment to the constitution can be 
proposed in the Legislature. It has to pass 
both houses of the Legislature during two 
different but successive sessions (a new 
session of th6 Legislature comes only every 
other year, when a new Senate is elected), 
and must then be submitted to the voters of 
the State for their approval. A majority 
vote makes it a law. 

The Legislature has authority under the 
State constitution to make laws for the 
State. It meets every year on the first 
Wednesday in January at the Capitol in 
Albany, and remains in session until its 
business is completed, usually about April 
I St. It is composed of two divisions or 
** houses," the Assembly and the Senate. 

Every ten years, in a year ending with 
the figure five, a census is taken of the people 
of the State, and on this basis there is a new 
apportionment of Senators and Assemblymen. 

[Sil 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

The Senate at present is composed of 
fifty-two members, elected from certain di- 
visions of the State known as Senatorial 
Districts. In general, each fiftieth of the 
population of the State is entitled to one 
Senator. (This rule is not followed mathe- 
matically, for a county may not be divided 
except to form two or more districts within 
it; no one county may have more than one- 
third of all the Senators, and no two counties 
may have more than one-half of the total 
number. This is intended as a check to a 
congested district having an undue repre- 
sentation.) 

If a county which already has three or 
more Senators shows a sufficient increase in 
population to entitle it to another one, the 
additional Senator adds one more to the 
fifty Senators already provided for. 

The Assembly is composed of one hundred 
and fifty members, and, roughly speaking, 
every one hundred and fiftieth part of the 
population of the State is entitled to one 
Assemblyman. In practice the rural county 
of small or medium size which does not con- 
tain a large city is one Assembly District. 
Chautauqua, Dutchess, Schenectady, Niag- 
ara, Orange, Rensselaer, St. Lawrence, Steu- 
ben, Richmond, Suffolk, and Broome have 

[52] 



STATE GOVERNMENT 

each two Assembly Districts. Albany, Onei- 
da, and Onondaga have three each; Queens 
has six; Westchester and Monroe, five; 
Bronx and Erie, eight; Kings and New- 
York, twenty- three each; Hamilton and 
Fulton counties have only one between 
them. Nassau County has recently been di- 
vided into two Assembly Districts. This di- 
vision is made by the County Board of 
Supervisors. 

The presiding officer of the Senate is the 
Lieutenant Governor, The presiding officer 
of the Assembly is elected by its members, 
and is called the Speaker. He appoints the 
standing committees, and has much control 
over legislation. He usually belongs to the 
political party which is in the majority in 
the Assembly. This party also elects a ma- 
jority leader to control legislation on the 
floor. The choice of the other party is 
called the leader of the minority, and he is 
recognized as the leader of this party in the 
Legislature. The Senate also has majority 
and minority leaders. 

Assemblymen are elected for one year, 
and Senators for two years. Both receive 
$1,500 salary and an allowance of ten cents 
a mile traveling expenses once during the 
session. 

[53] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

How to Get a Law Passed by the Legis- 
lature: A bill may be introduced by any 
member, beginning, "The People of the State 
of New York, represented in Senate and 
Assembly, do enact," etc. 

It may be introduced into either the 
Senate or the Assembly, or it can be intro- 
duced in both houses simultaneously. It 
has a first reading and is referred to a com- 
mittee. The committee may pigeonhole it 
and never report, or it may report it too late 
in the session for action by the Legislature, 
or it may report it favorably, or with a 
recommendation that it be rejected. If it is 
reported favorably it is put on the calendar 
to await its turn for consideration. It then 
comes up for a second reading, when it may 
be amended and sent back to the com- 
mittee; after a third reading a vote is taken. 
If it is passed in one house it then goes to 
the other house, where it goes through the 
same procedure. If it is passed by the sec- 
ond house, it then goes to the Governor for 
his signature. If it is a bill concerning the 
government of a city it goes to the mayor of 
the city for his approval. 

If either house changes the bill it has to 
go back to the first house for action in its 
amended form. The Governor has the power 

[54] 



STATE GOVERNMENT 

to veto a bill, but it can be repassed over his 
veto by a two-thirds vote. 

The Governor is the chief executive officer 
of the State. It is his business to enforce 
the laws, through his appointive officers. 
He has control of the military forces of the 
State, which must consist of not less than 
twenty thousand men, of whom two thou- 
sand must be a naval militia. He has the 
power to grant pardons. He is elected for 
two years, and receives a salary of $10,000 
and the use of the Executive Mansion. He 
may also initiate legislation. At every regu- 
lar session of the Legislature his duty is to 
send a "message," telling the Legislature 
about the condition of public affairs and 
recommending measures for their considera- 
tion. He may also, at any time, ask for 
special legislation, and may call the Legis- 
lature together in an extra session. He has 
the power of many important appointments 
to State positions, but subject to the ap- 
proval of the Senate. 

The Lieutenant Governor, with a salary of 
$5,000 a year, takes the Governor's place in 
case of need. He presides over the Senate. 

The Secretary of State has charge of all 
public documents and records. He grants 
certificates of incorporation, and has charge 

[55] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

of elections and the taking of the census. 
His salary is $6,000 a year. 

The Comptroller must sign every warrant 
for payment of State funds. He acts as 
auditor for the State, reports to the Legis- 
lature concerning State funds, and superin- 
tends the collection of State taxes. He desig- 
nates the banks in which State money shall 
be deposited. His salary is $8,000 a year. 

The State Treasurer is the custodian of 
State funds, and pays them out only on order 
of the Comptroller. His salary is $6,000 a 
year. 

The Attorney-General is the general legal 
adviser of the State. He prosecutes and 
defends all actions in which the State is 
interested. His salary is $10,000. 

The State Engineer and Surveyor must be 
a practical engineer. He has charge of the 
canals, and the surveying and mapping of 
all the public lands of the State. 

Appointive Offices: Among these are two 
Public Service Commissions, each with five 
members. The first has jurisdiction over 
Greater New York, and the second over the 
rest of the State. In general, they have power 
to regulate railroads and street-cars, to es- 
tablish rates, and to compel adequate service. 
They also control express companies, gas and 

[56] 



STATE GOVERNMENT 

electrical companies, telephone and tele- 
graph lines. No company can raise its 
rates without their consent. Their business 
is to see that the needs of the public are ade- 
quately served, and also to protect the com- 
panies from unjust treatment. These com- 
missions are considered so important that 
the salary of each commissioner was made 
$15,000 a year. 

The State Tax Commissioners have gen- 
eral supervision of the methods of raising 
taxes throughout the State. There are three 
of them appointed for three years, and they 
must visit every county in the State at least 
once in two years. Their salary is $6,000 a 
year each. 

The State Board of Equalization, which 
consists of the tax commissioners and com- 
missioners of the land office, has to equalize 
tiiC assessments in each county, and fix the 
amount on which the State tax is to be 
levied. 

The Superintendent of Banks controls the 
banks, trust companies, building and loan 
associations, which make reports to him 
quarterly, from which he in turn makes a 
report to the Legislature annually. His 
salary is $10,000, and his term three years. 

The Superintendent of Insurance has con- 

5 [57] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

trol over all the insurance companies and 
reports annually to the Legislature. His 
salary is $10,000, and term three years. 

The Commissioner of Health must be a 
physician. He has general oversight of the 
health of the State, and supervises the regis- 
tration of births, marriages, and deaths in 
the towns and cities. His salary is $8,000, 
and he has a four-year term. 

The Commissioner of Excise issues tax 
certificates for the sale of liquor and collects 
the excise tax, of which the State gets one- 
half, and the city or town in which the liquor 
is sold gets one-half. His salary is $7,000, 
term five years. 

The Commissioner of Agriculture appoints 
the directors of farmers' institutes, watches 
over the sale of food products that might 
be injurious to health, and has general care 
of the agricultural needs of the State. His 
salary is $8,000, term three years. 

The Commissioner of Highways, who is 
in charge of State roads and improvements, 
serves for two years with a salary of $12,000 
a year. 

The Department of Labor, which is a very 
important branch of the State government, 
works to improve the conditions of labor. 
There are five commissioners who serve six 

[58] 



STATE GOVERNMENT 

years, each with a salary of $8,000. In 
this department are several bureaus: viz: 
Inspection, Employment, Workmen's Com- 
pensation, Mediation and Arbitration, Sta- 
tistics and Information, Industries, and 
Immigration. 

The Conservation Commissioner controls 
departments for preserving and propagating 
fish and game, for protecting lands and for- 
ests, and the control of inland waters. He 
appoints a head for each division. (Forests 
owned by the State must be kept wild. They 
may not be loaned, sold, or exchanged, and 
no wood may be cut.) He serves six years, 
with a salary of $8,000 a year. 

The Civil Service Commission consists of 
three commissioners who have the duty of 
determining the rules with which to test the 
fitness of applicants for employment under 
the civil service laws. The civil service is 
intended to prevent the appointment of men 
to government positions through partisan 
politics or personal ''pull." Positions are 
classified, competitive examinations are held, 
and appointments made in order of merit. 
The custom has usually been to have sepa- 
rate lists made out of men and women, and 
it has been complained that preference has 
been given to the men's lists. 

[59] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

There is a Superintendent of Public Works, 
with a salary of $8,000; a Superintendent of 
Prisons, salary of $6,000, and a State Com- 
mission of Prisons of seven members who get 
$10 a day each for each day of service; a 
State Board of Charities; a State Hospital 
Commission in Lunacy of three members, the 
president of which is paid $7,000, and other 
members $5,000. 

There is also a State Food Commission of 
three members who serve without pay, ap- 
pointed only for the period of the war, and a 
recently created Farms and Markets Council, 

While most of the heads of the adminis- 
trative departments of the State government 
are appointed by the Governor, the terms of 
office of many of them are longer than the 
term of the Governor who appoints them. 
As a consequence, a Governor may be in 
office, and important departments like the 
Excise Commission, the Public Health and 
Public Service, and Industrial Commissions, 
may be in the hands of appointees of a pre- 
ceding Governor. They can be removed 
from office only by preferring charges and 
after a hearing. Also certain other impor- 
tant State officials, including the Comp- 
troller and the Secretary of State, are elected 
by the people, and may differ radically from 

[60] 



STATE GOVERNMENT 

the Governor on questions of public policy. 
They may even belong to a different political 
party. 

It is by some considered a weakness in 
the management of the affairs of the State, 
that the conduct of some of the most im- 
portant departments of an administration 
may be out of the control of the Governor 
who is responsible for them. 

The business of the State requires about 
17,500 regular employees, and the payroll is 
about $22,250,000. It is probable that some 
of these public officials in the service of the 
State might be dispensed with if they were 
required to work as many hours a day and 
as many days a year as they would be 
obliged to do in any private business. 



VI 

NATIONAL GOVERNMENT 

THE sovereign power of the United States 
is vested in the National government, the 
federal union of all the States, each self-gov- 
erning, but all uniting for certain purposes. 
The Constitution of the United States is the 
supreme law of the land. 

The National government, like that of the 
State and municipality, has three distinct 
divisions: the legislative, the executive, and 
the judicial. The legislative power rests 
with Congress, which is composed of the 
House of Representatives and the Senate. 

The House of Representatives is elected 
every two years by the voters of the States. 
After the census, which is taken every ten 
years, Congress determines what the total 
number of Representatives shall be. These 
are then apportioned among the States ac- 
cording to population. After the census of 
1 910 the House of Representatives was in- 

[62] 



NATIONAL GOVERNMENT 

creased to 43 5 members, which gave one mem- 
ber for every 211,877 inhabitants. New 
York has 43 Representatives, the largest 
number from any State in the Union. 
Every State is entitled to at least one Repre- 
sentative, although it may not have the 
requisite population. The Congressional Dis- 
trict from which a member is elected is de- 
termined by the State Legislature. Greater 
New York has 23 Congressmen. 

Qualifications for Representatives to Con- 
gress: A man must be twenty-five years old 
and have been a citizen of the United States 
for at least seven years, and be a resident of 
the State from which he is chosen. The sal- 
ary is $7,500 a year, with an allowance for a 
clerk, for stationery, and for traveling ex- 
penses. 

The Senate is composed of ninety-six mem- 
bers, two members from every State in the 
Union, elected for a term of six years. In 
order that there shall always be experienced 
men in the Senate, only one-third of that 
body is elected at a time. The Senate is 
divided into three classes, and the men be- 
longing to one of the three classes are elected 
every two years. 

A Senator may be re-elected as many times 
as a State chooses, and many Senators have 

[63] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

served twenty years or more. This raakes 
the Upper House of Congress a very conserva- 
tive, stable body of men. Senators, as well 
as Representatives, receive a salary of $7,500 
a year. The Vice-President of the United 
States is the presiding officer of the Senate. 

The election of Senators was formerly a 
prerogative of the State Legislature. The 
Seventeenth Amendment to the National 
Constitution, passed in 19 13, provides that 
they shall be elected by direct voice of the 
voters of the States. 

Qualifications of Senators: A candidate 
for the Senate must be thirty years old and 
have been a citizen for at least nine years. 

Sessions of Congress: A newCongress comes 
into existence on the fourth day of March 
every odd year, although it does not meet in 
regular session until the following winter. 
The long session begins the first Monday in 
December in the odd-numbered year, and 
usually lasts until spring or summer. The 
short session begins the same time in the 
even-numbered year and lasts until the fol- 
lowing March 4th, when the new Congress, 
elected the previous November, comes into 
existence, although it does not meet until 
the following December, unless the President 
calls an extraordinary session. A Congress- 

[64] 



NATIONAL GOVERNMENT 

man, therefore, is elected more than a year 
before he takes his seat. The Sixty-fifth 
Congress will end March 4 , 1 9 1 9 . The mem- 
bers of the Lower House of the Sixty-sixth 
Congress will be elected in November, 191 8. 

Congressional Committees: The work of 
Congress is largely done through committees. 
The House of Representatives, as constituted 
to-day, is an unwieldy body. It is obvious 
that four hundred and thirty-five men is 
too large a number to work effectively as a 
whole. Every bill, even a recommendation 
from the President, is referred to an appro- 
priate committee. It is only because of 
these many committees that it is possible to 
transact the very large amount of business 
that comes before Congress every year. 

How a Bill Is Passed: The procedure in 
Congress is similar to that in the State Legis- 
lature, A bill may be introduced by any 
member in either house, and must pass 
through both houses. 

Powers of Congress: Congress has abso- 
lute power to levy and collect taxes. Revenue 
bills must originate in the House of Repre- 
sentatives. Congress has the exclusive power 
to declare war, to raise and support an army 
and navy, and to regulate commerce. It 
controls naturalization laws and immigra- 

[65] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

tion; it establishes post-offices; grants 
patents and copyrights. It has the power to 
coin and to borrow money. It also governs 
the District of Columbia and the Territories. 

An Amendment to the Constitution of the 
United States must be passed by a majority 
of two-thirds of the votes cast in both houses 
of Congress. It is then submitted to the 
States for ratification by the State Legisla- 
tures. When the Legislatures of three-fourths 
of the forty-eight States have ratified such 
an amendment by a majority vote of their 
members it becomes law. 

The Executive: The President of the 
United States has greater powers than have 
the heads of many other nations. He is the 
Commander-in-chief of the Army and Navy ; 
he conducts official business with foreign 
nations and makes treaties with them, sub- 
ject to the approval of the Senate; he ap- 
points, with the consent of the Senate, am- 
bassadors, ministers, high officials of Army 
and Navy, justices of the Supreme Court, 
and a vast number of other officers. He may 
veto measures passed by Congress, but they 
can be passed over his veto by a two-thirds 
vote. 

The President has power to initiate legis- 
lation by sending a message to Congress, 

[ 66 1 



NATIONAL GOVERNMENT 

giving them information about important 
affairs and recommending legislative meas- 
ures for their consideration. The degree to 
which he can force legislation through Con- 
gress depends both on the strength of the 
party in Congress to which he belongs, and on 
the personal power and prestige of the Presi- 
dent himself. President Wilson is the first 
President, for more than a century, to ap- 
pear in person before a joint session of Con- 
gress and read his message. 

Election of the President: The President is 
chosen by presidential electors, elected by 
the voters of the various States, the number 
of electors for each State being the same as 
the total number of Representatives and 
Senators in Congress from that State. The 
electors of a State meet at the State Capitol 
on the second Monday of January following 
the election, to cast their votes for President. 
The electors are merely machines to register 
the vote of the State, and usually the entire 
electoral vote of a State goes to one candi- 
date, although the majority of the popular 
vote for him may have been small. This 
system makes the presidential election vir- 
tually an election by States. A State ' * goes ' ' 
Republican or Democratic. The struggle is 
concentrated in a few doubtful States. To 

I67] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

win or lose them may mean to win or lose 
the election. It has happened that one can- 
didate has actually received a larger popular 
vote than his opponent, and yet has not been 
elected, because the number of votes in the 
electoral college from the States that gave 
him a majority was smaller than the number 
of electoral votes from the other States. 
There is a movement toward the abolition 
of the electoral college and direct nomination 
and direct election of the President by the 
voters. 

The Vice-President must be eligible to the 
office of President. He is elected for the 
same term, and his salary is $12,000 a year. 
His only duty is to preside over the Senate 
and to succeed the President in case of need. 

The Cabinet consists of ten officials ap- 
pointed by the President with the consent 
of the Senate to conduct for him certain de- 
partments of public business. The salary 
of a Cabinet member is $12,000. 

Cabinet members have no vote in either 
House of Congress, and are not responsible 
to it in any way. Like the President him- 
self, they may belong to the party which is 
in the minority in Congress. The Cabinet 
is an advisory body to the President, but its 
members have no legal standing in that way, 

[681 



NATIONAL GOVERNMENT 

and he may ignore them if he chooses. 
Each Cabinet officer is the administrative 
head of his department. 

The Secretary of State heads the Depart- 
ment of State, and is responsible for all 
official negotiations and relations with for- 
eign governments. He is the medium of 
communication between the President and 
the Governors of the States. 

The Secretary of the Treasury manages 
national finances, administers revenue, cur- 
rency, and national banking laws. 

The Secretary of War has charge of all 
matters of national defense^ river and harbor 
improvements, and is responsible for the 
maintenance of the Army. 

The Attorney-General is the legal adviser 
of the President and the National govern- 
ment. 

The Postmaster-General conducts the af- 
fairs of the United States Post-Office De- 
partment and the transportation of the mail. 

The Secretary of the Navy has charge of 
the Navy and its equipment, yards, and 
docks. 

The Secretary of the Interior and his de- 
partment have charge of public lands and In- 
dian affairs. He has the granting of pensions 
and patents. 

[69] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

The Secretary of Agriculture has for his 
business the improvement of agriculture in 
the United States. He also has charge of 
the Weather Bureau, animal and plant in- 
dustry, and the forest service. 

The Secretary of Commerce must aid and 
develop the commercial interests of the 
country, including mining and transporta- 
tion. He takes the census every ten years. 

The Secretary of Labor and the Depart- 
ment of Labor are designed to protect the wel- 
fare of the wage earners. To this depart- 
ment belong the Bureau of Immigration and 
the Children's Bureau. 

The tendency of the past few years has 
been to enlarge the powers of the National 
government. With the rapid increase of 
means of transportation distant parts of the 
country have been brought close together. 
Sectionalism is diminishing. To ''States* 
rights" is being added a national pride. In 
the administration of the business of the 
nation, State boundaries can often no longer 
be considered without a distinct loss of 
economy and efficiency. To give one ex- 
ample : the State control of railroads resulted 
in obstructive and entirely different require- 
ments being made by neighboring States, on 
the same railroad passing through several of 

[70] 



NATIONAL GOVERNMENT 

them. The power of separate States to con- 
trol, independent of each other, such things 
as marriage and divorce laws, has resulted in 
the deplorable situation that a couple may be 
legally married in one State and the mar- 
riage may not be recognized in another. 

It is evident that with the growth in in- 
fluence and importance of the United States, 
the National government is gradually as- 
suming many functions which formerly were 
left to the separate States. 



VII 

WHO CAN VOTE 

THERE is one way in which the gov- 
ernment of a republic like the United 
States differs from other forms of govern- 
ment — viz.y in a republic the source of all power 
rests with the people. They choose the men 
to whom they give the right to speak for 
them and to represent them. 

The right to vote for the man who is to 
represent you, who is to make the law for 
you and to enforce that law, is the most 
sacred right of a free country. 

The success or failure of government in 
the United States, and in every political di- 
vision of the State, rests with the men and 
women who have the power of the vote. 

One of the great dangers of a democracy 
is the carelessness and indifference of the 
voter. If a government *'by the people" is 
to be a success, the people themselves must 

[72] 



WHO CAN VOTE 

see to it that honest, responsible, and efficient 
officials are chosen. 

Every Person in the State Is Either a Citi- 
zen or an Alien. Citizenship Is Conferred 
by the National Government and the State 
Has No Power to Confer or Withhold It. 

A Citizen is defined in the Constitution of 
the United States: "All persons born or 
naturalized in the United States and subject 
to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of 
the United States and of the State in which 
they reside. ' ' Native-bom Indians who have 
had land allotted them and have given up 
their tribal Hfe are citizens. All persons 
bom out of the country of citizen parents are 
also citizens, except where the father has 
never resided in the United States. 

Naturalization: Congress makes uniform 
laws of naturalization for all the States. 

An Alien is a person born in a foreign 
country who lives here but is still a subject 
of some other country. 

An Alien May Become a Citizen of the 
United States, and thus of New York State, 
after he has lived in the country five years 
continuously, and in the State one year. 
He must be able t6 write his own language, 
to read and speak EngHsh, and be of moral 
character. His first step is to go to a Fed- 
6 [73] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

eral court, or a court of record, and swear 
that it is his intention to become a citizen 
and renounce his allegiance to any foreign 
power. He is then given his ''first papers." 
Not less than two years, or more than seven 
years later, he must appear again with two 
witnesses to swear to his good character and 
loyalty, and file a petition. After ninety 
days his application is heard by the court 
and he is examined by the judge and renews 
his oath of allegiance. If the judge is satis- 
fied he is given his certificate of naturaliza- 
tion which makes him a citizen. Fees 
amounting to five dollars are now charged. 

Only White Persons and Negroes May 
Become Naturalized: Chinese, Japanese and 
East Indians cannot become citizens unless 
bom in the United States. Polygamists are 
excluded. 

An Unmarried Woman can take out papers 
of naturalization and become a citizen in the 
same way as does a man. 

A Married Woman is only a citizen if her 
husband is a citizen. Under the present law, 
she cannot become naturalized by herself. 
Also, under a strict interpretation of the law, 
she has the residence of her husband and 
must vote from the same place. 

A Woman Born in the United States who 
[74] 



WHO CAN VOTE 

marries an alien, although she may never 
leave her own country, ceases to be an 
American citizen and becomes a subject of 
the country to which her husband belongs. 
Therefore, the wife of a man not a citizen 
of the United States cannot vote in this 
country.^ If a resident of the United States, 
she resumes her citizenship at the death of 
her husband, or if she is divorced. A for- 
eign-born woman who marries a citizen be- 
comes a citizen. Children under age become 
citizens with their parents. 

An American-bom man may live abroad 
many years and not lose his citizenship. 

A naturalized citizen is considered as losing 
his citizenship if he returns to his native 
country and resides there two years. 

A citizen has the right to withdraw from 
the United States, renounce his allegiance, 
and acquire citizenship in another country. 

An alien enjoys the same protection of the 
law as does the citizen. The government 
extends its protection to the native-born and 
the naturalized citizen alike. A naturalized 

1 A bill is now before Congress to change this law and 
make it possible for a married woman to choose her coun- 
try for herself, as a man does, and to require that she be 
obliged to go through the same process of naturalization 
that a man does, including the oath of allegiance. It is 
only through a Federal law that this change can be made. 

[75] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

citizen is protected while abroad, even in his 
native country, by our government in exact- 
ly the same degree as a native-bom citizen 
would be. A naturalized citizen may fill any 
office in the land with the exception of that 
of President. 

A Citizen Is Not Always a Voter: Women 
were citizens of New York State before they 
were given the right to vote, if (i) they were 
born in the United States, (2) were married 
to citizens, or (3) if, unmarried, they had 
taken out their own naturalization papers. 

The State Confers the Right to Vote and 
Fixes the Qualifications for Voters. 

Who May Vote: ''Every citizen of the age 
of twenty-one years who shall have been a 
citizen for ninety days, an inhabitant of the 
State for one year, and a resident of the 
county for four months, and a resident of 
the election district for thirty days, has a 
right to vote" (Act II, Sec. I, Constitution 
of New York State). Foreign-born women 
whose husbands are citizens must live in the 
country five years before they can vote. In 
time of war soldiers and sailors may vote 
wherever they are, and their ballots are 
counted in their home districts. 

It is reasonable that a certain length of 
residence should be required before a person 

[76] 



WHO CAN VOTE 

is permitted to vote, in order that he may 
have a chance to become familiar with the 
interests of a community, and acquainted 
with the quahfications of the candidates. 

Who May Not Vote: A naturahzed citizen 
who has not been naturahzed for at least 
ninety days before election; a person whose 
name and address is not registered with elec- 
tion officials at least ten days before an 
election ; a person convicted of bribery or an 
infamous crime; a deserter from the Army 
or Navy. A person who bets on an election 
is disqualified for voting at that election. 

The Governor may restore citizenship to a 
person who has lost it. 

The State Cannot Interfere with the 
Rights of Citizens: While the State pre- 
scribes the qualifications for suffrage for its 
own citizens, by the Fourteenth and Fifteenth 
Amendments to the National Constitution, 
the Federal government prohibits any State 
from abridging the privileges and immunities 
of citizens of the United States, and declares 
that the State in making the qualifications 
for the suffrage cannot discriminate because 
of color or race. 

The Fourteenth Amendment further pro- 
vides that when the right to vote is denied 
to any of the male citizens of a State, its 

[77] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

basis of representation shall be reduced in 
proportion. 

Several of the Southern States have re- 
stricted the suffrage by educational and prop- 
erty qualifications, but have excluded from 
these qualifications those who were voters 
in 1867 (before the negroes were enfran- 
chised) and their descendants. This dis- 
crimination of the so-called "grandfather" 
clause was held unconstitutional by the 
Supreme Court of the United States in 1915, 
but the reduction in representation has never 
been enforced. Massachusetts has an edu- 
cational qualification and Pennsylvania a 
tax qualification, which also exclude many 
male citizens; but the Fourteenth Amend- 
ment has never been seriously enforced in 
either case. 

The National Amendment for Woman 
Suffrage: An amendment to the Federal 
Constitution is pending which provides that 
the right to vote shall not be denied on account 
of sex. 

While New York State has given the vote 
to its women, this permission does not ex- 
tend beyond its borders. New York women 
lose their vote if they go to Pennsylvania, 
New Jersey, or any adjoining State. Twelve 
States have given women full suffrage, and 

[78] 



WHO CAN VOTE 

nineteen States have given them the right 
to vote for President. The Woman Suf- 
frage Amendment, when passed by Congress 
and ratified by three-fourths of all the States, 
will secure the right to vote to all the women 
of the United States. 



VIII 

POLITICAL PARTIES 

APOLITICAL party is a group of voters 
organized for the purpose of putting 
certain policies into effect, to elect certain 
men to office, and to control the machinery 
of government. Under a popular govern- 
ment, where public officials are chosen by the 
people and political policies are formulated by 
them, political parties have seemed the most 
expedient device as yet discovered to accom- 
plish these ends. 

The political party was not originally a 
part of the government; but as the country 
developed and government needs and op- 
portunities multiplied, party machinery grew 
more complex, and its powers increased to 
such a dangerous degree that for the sake 
of its own integrity, the State was forced to 
regulate it. Party conventions, primaries, 
and much of the party machinery are now 
controlled by law. 

[80] 



POLITICAL PARTIES 

Two Parties: The United States has al- 
ways had two principal parties. They have 
had different names, and under the same 
name they have advocated different prin- 
ciples. The first parties were the Federal- 
ists, who believed in a strong central govern- 
ment that should exercise all the powers that 
the Constitution could be interpreted to per- 
mit, and the Anti-Federalists, who believed 
in limiting the functions of the Federal 
government and reserving as much power as 
possible to the States. 

The Republican and Democratic Parties: 
It is difficult to define the difference between 
the present principal parties. The Republican 
party is the successor of the Federalists. It 
was formed shortly before the Civil War to 
prevent the extension of slavery. In general it 
has believed in a liberal interpretation of the 
Federal Constitution, and has wished to see the 
powers of the National government extended. 
The Democratic party has advocated ' ' States' 
rights," the right of the individual States to 
settle their own affairs. It has held to a 
strict interpretation of the Constitution, and 
has believed in limiting the power of the 
National government. Besides the doctrine 
of States' rights, the principal difference be- 
tween the Republican and Democratic parties 

I8i] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

has been the tariff. The Republican party- 
has advocated a high tariff, and the Demo- 
cratic party a tariff *'for revenue only." 
While these have been the two issues most 
discussed between the two parties, even on 
these questions the lines have often been con- 
fused. Democratic members of Congress 
have advocated measures which distinctly 
contradicted the principles of States' rights, 
and the Republican party as often has adopted 
them for its own purposes. The Demo- 
cratic party has not always stood on its low- 
tariff platform, and Republicans have often 
been against protection. Even before the 
present war old party lines had begun to fade. 
With the dangers threatening the country, 
which war has brought, these lines have been 
almost obliterated. What they will be when 
the war is over no one can predict with cer- 
tainty. 

The Republican party came into power in 
i860, when it elected Abraham Lincoln Presi- 
dent, and until 1913 it controlled the Na- 
tional government, except for two terms of 
four years each when Grover Cleveland was 
President. 

In general the Southern States are Demo- 
cratic, preserving a "solid South." The 
Northern States are apt to be Republican. 

[82] 



POLITICAL PARTIES 

The Progressive Party was organized in 
191 2 as the result of a split in the Republi- 
can ranks, by men who wanted more pro- 
gressive measures than those advocated by 
either the Republican or Democratic party. 
It advocated public ownership of mines, 
forests, and water power; a larger measure 
of justice for the working-classes and suf- 
frage for women. It has disintegrated, but 
it had a large effect in liberalizing both the 
older parties, and many of its policies have 
been adopted by them. 

The Prohibition Party was organized in 
1872 to bring about complete prohibition of 
alcoholic drinks. It has elected candidates 
to the Legislature and has secured an ever 
larger measure of local option and even 
St ate- wide prohibition. 

The Socialist Party, organized in 1900, 
advocates government ownership of land, 
railroads, telegraph and telephones, mines, 
and all vital industries. It has become 
largely the party of the industrial workers. 

Minor parties have come and gone, but they 
have usually left a lasting effect on the domi- 
nant parties. 

In New York State, any organization is 
considered "a party" which polled at least 
10,000 votes for Governor at the last election. 

[83] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

Party Organization: The individual voter, 
or group of voters, is helpless to change con- 
ditions or to elect a man. It is only through 
the organization of many men who want the 
same thing that they become effective. Polit- 
ical parties are organized for National, State, 
and local campaigns. 

The great work of the political parties 
is the nomination and election of a Presi- 
dent every four years. For this purpose 
there must be a national party organiz- 
ation. 

The National Committee of each party is 
composed of one member from each State. 
It organizes the National Convention of the 
party, which is held early in the summer be- 
fore the presidential election, and at which 
party policies are formulated, and candidates 
for President and Vice-President are nomi- 
nated. In the spring the chairman of the 
National Committee calls a meeting of this 
committee to decide where and when the 
convention shall meet. 

Besides nominating candidates for Presi- 
dent and Vice-President, the convention 
adopts a ''platform" in which is set forth 
the principles which the party holds and its 
attitude on important public questions. A 
new National Committee is appointed to 

[84] 



POLITICAL PARTIES 

carry on the campaign and to act until the 
next convention. 

The platform adopted by the party at its 
National convention is an expression of the 
principles for which the party stands. A 
''plank" may be put in simply to catch 
votes; on some question the plank may not 
be explicit, but may ''straddle" the issue. 
While in the main the National platform sets 
forth the principles to which the party is 
committed and its proposals for future action, 
the speech or letter of acceptance of the 
candidate for the presidency usually contains 
a more reliable statement of the policies 
which he would advocate if elected. 

The State Committee is the party or- 
ganization in control of the party in the 
State. It is composed of one man from 
each of the one hundred and fifty Assembly 
Districts in the State, who are elected by the 
enrolled members of the party in each dis- 
trict. The chairman is elected by the com- 
mittee to serve for two years. 

Party members are all those who at the 
last registration, or last general election, en- 
rolled in the party. 

State platforms count for little. They 
usually "point with pride" to things the 
party has done, and denounce the acts of the 

[8s] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

opposing party. Most voters pay little at- 
tention to them. 

The County Committee consists of one 
man from every election district in the 
county; the City Committee, one from each 
ward or election district in the city. (New 
York County has its own organization, dif- 
ferent from the others.) The chairman of 
each of these committees is elected at the 
party primaries. He is usually an experi- 
enced politician, and each committee is the 
party authority locally. 

The Election District: The election dis- 
trict captain, or county committeeman, is 
the man who comes in direct personal touch 
with the voter. His business is to deliver 
the vote of his election district to his party. 
He must know every voter in his district, 
find out how each one is going to vote, and 
keep track of new voters, especially the first 
voter who has yet to choose his party. He 
is an inspector at elections; he selects poll 
clerks and watchers, and handles the money 
sent by his party to his district. The As- 
sembly District leader or County Chairman 
distributes the patronage and the election 
district captain may recommend men to him. 
The more offices that can be filled, and the 
greater the number of "the faithful" who 

[86] 



POLITICAL PARTIES 

can be provided for, the stronger the party 
at the next election. The one quality neces- 
sary for the election district captain is com- 
plete loyalty to his chairman and party. 

If ordinary party members pay no atten- 
tion to the organization locally it is bound 
to fall into the hands of those who make 
their living out of politics. 

Party Funds are contributed by members 
of the party, subscriptions from interested 
men, from party candidates and interests 
which expect to be benefited if a certain 
party comes into power. 

It is a crime to levy on the salary of any 
public official for campaign expenses, but 
such contributions are often still expected. 

If a party elects its candidate, he has many 
officials to appoint, and these offices are often 
unfortunately regarded as rewards for party 
loyalty and work. The civil service was 
created to take offices aw^y from party con- 
trol and prevent the ''spoils system." 

The Use and Abuse of Party: The political 
party has a very definite place in popular 
government. In the conduct of a campaign 
organization is indispensable. The danger 
lies in the difficulty of sufficiently safeguard- 
ing the interests of the public from the spoils- 
men of either party. It is through the party 

[87] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

that citizens must work for political meas- 
ures, but it is also through the party machine 
that anti-social forces are able to successfully 
carry out their plans. 

There is tremendous power for a party in 
its control of the government of a city or a 
State. A multitude of offices have to be 
filled, franchises to be granted, valuable 
contracts let, and there are a thousand op- 
portunities for public plunder and private 
enrichment. The party in power nationally, 
has untold possibilities in the control of the 
fabulous resources of the country. In order 
that a party may come into power in the 
National government, it is necessary for it 
to be in control in the State, and to control 
the State it tries to hold minor political di- 
visions. To gain control locally it partitions 
out the offices where they will do the most 
good; it gains support from every quarter 
through any means; it seeks to have men in 
positions of authority who can be so con- 
trolled that they will subordinate everything 
to the party welfare. 

The average voter not infrequently sup- 
ports his party at all elections, without re- 
gard for the merits of the candidates. He is 
often a Republican or a Democrat, without 
any clear idea of the different principles of 

[88] 



POLITICAL PARTIES 

the two parties. Or he may have become 
a Republican or a Democrat because he 
agreed with the party in regard to some 
National question. So he follows it blindly 
in State and city elections, which have noth- 
ing to do with National questions. It is sel- 
dom that important issues of party princi- 
ples are involved in a local election ; but the 
tradition of party support is strong and the 
temptation to hold party allegiance even at 
the expense of the public is almost irresistible. 

The Independent Voter: Undoubtedly the 
number of independent voters is growing. 
Whenever for any reason a group of non- 
partisan voters abstain from party allegiance, 
are alert to the sincerity of party promises, 
and are watchful of the qualifications of can- 
didates, both parties begin to clean house 
and put up as candidates the best men avail- 
able, in order to bid for the independent 
vote. Such a body of non-partisan voters 
may be the decisive factor in an election, 
especially if the two parties are about evenly 
divided. 

The independent voter is not popular with 
the machine politician. The larger the num- 
ber of non-partisan voters the more difficult 
it is for him to perform his duties, and to 
control and deliver the vote. 
7 [ 89 ] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

In city and village elections, party issues 
have no place, and there is a growing feeling 
that qualification for office should be the only 
consideration. 

It all comes back to the voting citizen. 
Politics and political parties are what the 
people make them. 



IX 

HOW CANDIDATES ARE NOMINATED 

WHILE any man's name can be put in 
nomination for any office, he has little 
chance of being elected in most elections 
without being the candidate of a poHtical 
party. For a long time parties were allowed 
to nominate candidates as they chose, and 
party bosses dictated nominations without 
regard for the wishes of the rest of the party 
or for the interests of the public. For some 
time past the State has regulated the methods 
of nominations. 

Candidates for all offices are nominated in 
one of three ways : (i) At a party convention ; 
(2) by direct primaries; (3) by petition. 

Candidates for President and Vice-Presi- 
dent are nominated at National conventions, 
which are the most spectacular events of our 
political life. Delegates to the National 
convention are elected at special party 

[91] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

primaries held the first Tuesday in April of 
the presidential year. Every State is allowed 
double as many delegates as it has Senators 
and Representatives in Congress. The four 
men corresponding to the representation of 
the State in the Senate are delegates-at- 
large; the others are district delegates. 
The National convention is, therefore, com- 
posed of about one thousand delegates, and 
its meetings draw other thousands of spec- 
tators. There are few auditoriums in the 
country big enough to house the convention. 
There are usually several candidates, each 
one of whom is the choice of a group of men 
in the party. The name of each candidate 
is presented to the convention by a carefully 
selected orator, under circumstances planned 
to arouse enthusiasm, and, if possible, to stam- 
pede the convention. 

A majority vote is sufficient to nominate 
the candidate in the Republican convention, 
but the Democratic party requires a two-thirds 
vote. Sometimes not one of the candidates 
presented is able to secure a majority. Days 
may be consumed in discussion and bargain- 
ing, and in the end an unexpected candidate, 
a "dark horse," may be nominated. The 
members of the National Committee who are 
to serve during the next four years are elected 

[92] 



HOW CANDIDATES ARE NOMINATED 

in the convention, one member from each 
State. 

How Candidates for Office in New York 
State Are Nominated : The direct primary is 
the method now used in New York State by 
which candidates for all offices except those 
in towns and villages are nominated, and the 
conduct of these ''official primaries," as they 
are called to distinguish them from the un- 
official primaries of the party, is carefully 
prescribed by State law. A primary election 
is held thirty days before the general election, 
and is conducted on the same plan and in 
the same general way as the election. Can- 
didates of each party for all the elected 
offices are nominated by the enrolled party 
members. At the same time leaders for the 
district of each political party are elected. 
The ballots for each party are printed by 
the State and differ in color. The candi- 
dates whose names are printed on the pri- 
mary ballot are designated by party com- 
mittees, and other persons may have their 
names added by petition. 

Who May Vote at the Official Primaries 
— Enrolment of Voters: Only those who 
have enrolled themselves as members of the 
party are permitted to vote at the official 
primaries. At the time of the registration 

[93] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

of voters in the cities, or at the last general 
election in the country, voters are given a 
party enrolment blank to fill out. These en- 
rolments are placed in sealed envelopes and 
opened a week after the regular election, when 
enrolment lists of each party are made out. 
Such enrolment is not compulsory, but un- 
IcoS a voter enrolls he is not able to take 
part in the nomination of candidates. By 
enrolling he does not pledge himself to vote 
the party ticket at the election (except in the 
case of the Socialist party) ; but he is allowed 
to vote at the primary for candidates of the 
party in which he enrolls. 

Objections to Direct Primaries are made 
that few voters take the trouble to vote at 
them, and that the choice of candidates is 
very limited and is still controlled by party 
leaders. They are also very expensive for 
a candidate, especially if he is not backed by 
these leaders. To stand any chance of 
nomination a candidate has to canvass the 
voters and make himself known to them. 
A poor man cannot afford to enter a contest 
in a direct primary unless funds are supplied 
him or unless he expects to recoup himself 
later at the public expense. Also, as that 
candidate wins the primary election who 
receives the largest number of votes, the 

[94] 



HOW CANDIDATES ARE NOMINATED 

successful candidate may be one who has 
had the votes of only a small proportion of 
the party which is expected to support him 
later at the polls. 

So far in New York State the primaries, 
even in city elections, are largely party af- 
fairs. The suggestion has been advanced 
that city primaries should be strictly non- 
partisan, and that party emblems should be 
eliminated from the primary ballots. 

Nomination by a Convention is a method 
still used in some States, and until it was 
superseded by the direct primary it used to 
be the manner of nominating candidates in 
New York. An ofHcial party convention is 
made up of delegates elected by members of 
the party from the different parts of the State. 
Names of possible candidates are presented 
to the members in open convention, who ex- 
press their choice by ballot. 

Objections to the Convention System are 
based on the fact that the regular party con- 
vention is usually controlled by a few 
leaders who decide beforehand every detail 
of the business of the convention and make 
up the slate. They may trade with another 
group and concede part of the ticket to them 
in return for certain concessions which they 
may obtain for themselves. The delegates 

[95] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

are often there simply to follow orders and 
to nominate the men agreed upon by the 
party bosses. 

The ''slate" is the list of candidates for 
the various offices to be filled. Nominations 
for these positions are usually influenced not 
so much by the qualifications of the men pro- 
posed for office, as by the ability of the pro- 
posed candidates to get out the vote and to 
add strength to the ticket, also by geo- 
graphical considerations, that each part of 
the State or district may be represented on 
the ticket. 

Unofficial State conventions are still held 
by the leading parties in New York. Their 
principal business is to frame a platform. 
This convention also appoints the central 
committee. 

The Primary Is Important to Every Voter 
because it is there that policies are deter- 
mined and party leaders elected, as well as 
candidates nominated for offices. Unless the 
members of the party take the trouble to 
vote at the primary, the choice of candidates 
is left to the few leaders who make a business 
of politics. This leaves the field clear for 
*'the boss" to put up candidates whom he 
can control after election. 

The vote at the primary election is always 

[96] 



HOW CANDIDATES ARE NOMINATED 

small. The proportion of voters who vote for 
the nomination of candidates is often as low 
as 1 8 or 20 per cent, of the vote cast at the 
election. The reason for this is not difHcult 
to understand. The primary election comes 
at a time when little public interest has yet 
been aroused in the coming election. By 
election-time the voters have been circu- 
larized and canvassed and the newspapers 
have devoted much space to the subject. 
Also much more effort is made by the party 
to get out the vote at election-time than at 
the primary. Party leaders can count on the 
faithful coming to the primary election with- 
out urging, and they are the ones who often 
choose the candidates. 

Nomination by Petition: Most candidates 
on the ballot are nominated by a party, but 
a man may also be nominated by a petition 
of independent voters. The petition must 
contain the title of the office to be filled, the 
name and address of the candidate, and be 
signed by a certain number of voters. 



X 

ELECTIONS 

LAWS concerning the holding of elec- 
^ tions have grown much more stringent 
in the last few years. Every detail of the 
casting of a ballot is now prescribed by law 
and every precaution taken to insure hon- 
esty of elections. The precautions apply 
more to cities than to rural communities, 
with the result that more corruption may 
sometimes be found to-day in country elec- 
tions than in those in cities. 

Registration of Voters: In large places or 
densely populated districts it is impossible 
for the election officials to know every voter, 
therefore the law requires that in cities and 
villages of over five thousand inhabitants 
every voter shall appear every year before 
the board of registration and have his name 
put on the registration list. He is required 
to answer certain questions as to his age, his 
exact residence, his business, and where his 

[98] 



ELECTIONS 

last vote was cast, and to sign his own 
name for purposes of identification and to 
prevent fraud. 

In smaller places and in rural districts, 
the signature is not required, and after a 
man's name is once registered it remains on 
the book as long as the voter remains in 
the district. In practice it remains on the 
book until some one takes it off; and the 
names of men who have died or moved away 
are frequently found in a rural registration 
book. 

Time of Elections: The general elections 
take place in the fall, on the first Tuesday 
after the first Monday in November. Na- 
tional elections for President and Vice-Presi- 
dent take place every four years, in the year 
that ends with the figure four or its multiple. 
Elections for representatives to Congress 
and State elections are held the same day 
every two years, in the even - numbered 
years. City elections are held the same day 
in the odd-numbered years. City elections 
are held separate from State elections in 
order to keep National and State issues from 
intruding in the election of municipal officers. 
Local elections usually take place the same 
day, with the exception of the spring village 
election and town meeting. 

[99] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

The Election District: For convenience 
every county or city is divided into election 
districts, each with one poUing-place. The 
average number of voters to an election dis- 
trict in New York State is from two hundred 
and fifty to four hundred. When a district 
grows to five hundred voters it is usually di- 
vided. In Chicago, since women were given 
the vote, an election district contains from 
five to six hundred voters. It has been 
found that the women vote at the hours 
when men are busy, and that the same elec- 
tion officials can handle many more votes 
than is customary in New York. 

Election Officers: Boards of elections, ap- 
pointed by the county board of supervisors, 
are in general charge of the elections in the 
county, and there is a State Superintendent 
of Elections appointed by the Governor. 
At each polling-place on Election Day there 
is an election board consisting of four elec- 
tion inspectors, two ballot clerks, and two 
poll clerks. The law provides that election 
boards and boards of registration shall con- 
sist of equal representatives from the two 
political parties that cast the highest num- 
ber of votes ^t the last election. This does 
not apply to town and village elections. 
Each party also is allowed two watchers. 

[loo] 



ELECTIONS 

A railing shuts in the voting-booths and 
tables, and no one but the election board 
and the official watchers is allowed under 
the law to be inside this railing. 

The polls are open from six o'clock in the 
morning until five o'clock in the afternoon. 
Before voting begins the ballot-boxes are 
opened and inspected to see that they are 
empty. The official watchers have a right 
to see everything that is done. Electioneer- 
ing is forbidden within one hundred feet of 
the polls. The voting-booths are constructed 
so as to insure privacy while the voter is 
marking his ballot, and the ballot is folded 
so that no one but the voter himself knows 
how he has voted. 

The Election: When the voter appears 
to cast his ballot, he gives his name and 
address, and the registration book is con- 
sulted to see that he is registered, the number 
of the ballot given to him is called out by 
the ballot clerk, and his name and the 
number of his ballot are entered in the poll- 
book. 

Official ballots are provided for every 
polling - place, twice as many as there are 
registered voters in the district. 

All the candidates for one office are grouped 
together on the ballot, each name with a 

[lOl] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

blank square beside it. To vote for a can- 
didate the voter must make a cross with a 
lead-pencil (not ink) inside of the box be- 
side the name of the candidate: E. If the 
cross extends beyond the box, or if the 
word "yes" is written, if the ballot is erased 
or in any way defaced, it will be thrown out 
at the count as void. If a voter spoils a 
ballot he should ask for another one. An 
illiterate person is allowed assistance in 
marking his ballot. 

When the voter comes out of the booth, 
where he has marked his ballot in secret 
and folded it so it cannot be read, he gives 
the ballot to an election official, who an- 
nounces the name of the voter and the num- 
ber of his ballot, tears off the stub, and drops 
the ballot unopened into the box. A per- 
son's vote may be challenged by an inspector 
or watcher, or at the written request of any 
voter. If, under oath, he is questioned and 
swears that he is eligible, his vote is recorded, 
but is marked challenged. 

The Count: At five o'clock the polls are 
closed and the ballots are counted. They 
must not be handled by any one but the 
election officials, although the watchers may 
see every ballot and watch the count. The 
count for each office to be filled is made 

[102] 



ELECTIONS 

separately, and if there are many candidates 
it may take many hours to complete the count 
and know the result. Official tally sheets 
are provided. The result is filed with the 
County Clerk. The board of supervisors 
meet as a board of canvassers to canvass the 
result, and the returns are sent to the State 
board of canvassers. 

The Australian Ballot is the only one used 
in New York State elections. It has on 
one ballot the names of all candidates of 
all parties for all the offices to be voted for. 
The names are grouped by offices, and the 
first name in each group is the candidate of 
the party that cast the largest vote at the 
last election. The only ballots shown be- 
fore Election Day are sample ballots printed 
on pink paper, while the ballots used at the 
election are white. They are all numbered, 
and every one must be accounted for. 

Until recently the ballot was printed with 
a column for each party, so that the easiest 
thing the voter could do was to put a cross 
within a circle at the head of the column, 
and thus vote for every candidate of that 
party — what is called a "straight ticket." 
The ballot used at present requires a separate 
cross for every separate candidate, and so 
encourages independence and intelligence on 

[103] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

the part of the voter. There are blank places 
so the voter may write in any name he 
wishes for any office. 

Short Ballot: It is evident from the brief 
outline of the structure of government con- 
tained in the earlier chapters, that there are 
a great many officers to be elected. It is im- 
possible for even the most intelligent and 
most interested voter to know the merits of 
as many candidates as often appear on one 
ballot. In some elections ballots are used 
which can be measured only in feet, and 
sometimes even in yards. To remedy this 
evil there is a strong movement toward a 
short ballot. This would mean cutting down 
the number of elective offices. 

The tendency of government to-day is to 
concentrate the responsibility on one man or 
a few men, to let them make appointments, 
and to hold them accountable for results. 

Corrupt Practices Act: The cost of cam- 
paigns and elections to the political parties 
and to many candidates is great. While 
there are many legitimate expenses con- 
nected with an election, the uncontrolled use 
of large funds leads to grave corruption and 
has brought about careful regulation by the 
State of money used at election- time. Con- 
tributions from corporations are prohibited. 

[ 104 ] 



ELECTIONS 

A public statement of campaign funds must 
be made by every candidate and every organ- 
ization taking part in a campaign, of all money 
received for campaign purposes and how it 
has been expended. This statement must be 
filed with the Secretary of State within 
twenty days after the election, and be open 
to public inspection. Even these precau- 
tions, while more severe than those found in 
most States, have not succeeded in putting 
an end to the corrupt use of money in elec- 
tions. 

It has been proposed recently that an ad- 
dition to the Corrupt Practices Act should be 
made to require all candidates and campaign 
managers to file, five days before election, in- 
stead of twenty days after, a list of receipts 
and expenditures, so that voters might know 
before the election the sources of political 
contributions and the use to which the money 
is put. 

A second proposal has been made in regard 
to the personnel of the election officers, that 
instead of these boards being party ap- 
pointees they should be appointed from the 
civil service lists. It is argued that with 
civil service appointees handling the count 
of ballots there would be less likelihood of 
mistakes or deliberate fraud. 
8 [105] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

Oregon has adopted the plan of having a 
pamphlet printed by the State for both the 
primaries and the elections, in which is set 
forth the claims of candidates of all parties, 
and both sides of all public questions to be 
voted on. This pamphlet is sent at public 
expense to every voter in that State. 

Voting-machines are expensive, but they 
do away with the necessity for voting-booths, 
and require fewer election officials. Perhaps 
that is one reason they have not been more 
popular. They register the number of votes 
cast for each candidate, and the result of the 
election is known as soon as the polls are 
closed, and does not have to await the long, 
tedious, and often incorrect count by hand. 

The Use of School-houses and other public 
buildings for registration- and polling-places is 
growing more common. It not only saves 
the large rent usually charged for the use of 
other buildings for polling-places, but it also 
gives more room and more convenient sur- 
roundings than are afforded by the kind of 
place often rented for use on Election Day. 
Unless provision is made by a city charter 
or some special permission school-houses may 
be used in this way only by a vote of the 
people of the district. 

The Cost of Elections in proportion to 
[io6] 



ELECTIONS 

other expenses of government is small. In 
the budget for New York City it figures less 
than I per cent, of the total budget. At the 
same time it could undoubtedly be lowered 
by economy. High rent is paid for polling- 
places, double the number of ballots neces- 
sary and liberal supplies are given to each 
district. It was found in Chicago, when 
women became voters, that the cost of elec- 
tions was increased very little. The supplies 
furnished, and the same number of election 
officials, were found to be able to care for a 
large increase in the number of voters. 



XI 

TAXATION 

IT is evident that to carry on the necessary 
business of a city, a county, the State, or 
the nation requires money. Also, since 
everybody shares in the benefits of govern- 
ment, every one should help pay the bill. 

One of the most difficult problems of gov- 
ernment is to devise a system of taxation 
that cannot be evaded, that will raise suffi- 
cient money for expenses, and that will treat 
every one with equal justice. 

Taxation may be divided into two general 
classes, direct and indirect. Direct taxes are 
those imposed directly upon property or per- 
sons ; such as taxes imposed upon land, per- 
sonal property, or income. The term indirect 
tax is applied to taxes upon activities such as 
carrying on some business or upon buying, 
selling, manufacturing, or importing certain 
articles. 

A direct tax, as a rule, cannot be evaded 
[io8] 



TAXATION 

or shifted to some other person. Indirect 
taxes can be evaded by abstaining from the 
activity that is taxed. They can usually 
also be shifted to others, and are generally 
paid by the consumer, or user of the article 
that is taxed. In general, direct taxes are 
levied by the State and municipal govern- 
ments, while the National government de- 
rives its revenue (with the exception of the 
income tax) mainly from indirect taxes. 

Taxes for local purposes are levied largely 
on houses and land, on what is called real 
property. Personal property y which is mov- 
able property, such as mortgages, live stock, 
furniture, etc., is also subject to taxation, 
but it is assessed only upon the balance of 
its value in excess of the indebtedness of the 
person taxed. It is a more difficult tax to 
collect than the tax on real property, and is 
evaded to such a large extent that many 
economists believe that it should be abolished, 
and some tax substituted more possible to 
impose equally and to collect. 

Village and school taxes are usually col- 
lected independently by village and school 
officials.* Town, county, State, and city 
taxes are assessed and collected at the same 
time. 

Tax Districts: The State is divided into 
[ 109 ] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

tax districts which have usually the boun- 
daries of the township or city, and there are 
three tax assessors in each tax district elected 
by the people in the town, and usually ap- 
pointed in the city. 

How Taxes Are Assessed: The State Legis- 
lature decides the amount needed for carry- 
ing on the government of the State. The 
largest part of these expenses are met by 
special indirect State taxes. The remainder 
of the amount to be raised is apportioned 
among the counties according to the value 
of taxable property in each (see State Board 
of Equalization). 

The county board of supervisors decides 
how much is needed for county affairs. The 
town meetings, or the town boards and the 
voters through voting on propositions sub- 
mitted by the town boards, decide how much 
money is needed for the business of the towns. 
This sum is added to the total amount of taxes 
necessary for the county government, and to 
the county's share of taxes for the State 
government, and the combined sum is the 
amount that must be levied on the property 
in that county. The amount needed to 
carry on the government of a city in the 
county is reported to the county board of 
supervisors and to this sum is added in the 

[no] 



TAXATION 

same way the proportion of county and State 
taxes which the city must pay. 

Assessing the amount each taxpayer shall 
pay is the duty of the assessors. They make 
up an Assessment roll which must contain 
the name of every person in the district who 
owns property, and the assessed value of 
his property. The way the assessors do this 
work varies largely. The policy governing 
assessments in rural districts is to place as 
low a valuation on property as possible, in 
order that the total assessed valuation for 
the county shall be kept down, so that the 
apportionment given to the county for State 
taxes shall be low, and the larger burden of 
taxation shall fall on the cities. When the 
assessment roll is completed the assessors 
notify the public that it is open for inspec- 
tion, and a time and place are fixed for a 
hearing, when any one who thinks he has 
been unfairly treated may complain. If 
such a person is not satisfied with the de- 
cision of the local assessors he may appear 
before the County Board of Equalization 
with his complaint. 

The County Board of Equalization is the 
county board of supervisors. They have 
power to equalize the assessed value of the 
real property in any tax district in the county. 

[ill] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

They apportion the amount of State and 
county tax due from each town or city, add 
the town or city tax, then ascertain the 
amount each person shall pay according to 
the assessed valuation of his property. This 
sum is noted on the assessment roll opposite 
each person's name and the roll then be- 
comes the tax roll of the district. 

A practical example: Suppose X owns a 
house and lot which the assessors value at 
$5,000. The county board of equalization 
finds that the city where X lives must raise 
$100,000 in taxes; $90,000 is required for the 
city government; $9,000 is the sum the city 
is required to contribute to the expenses of 
the county, and $1,000 is the share the city 
has to pay toward the government of the 
State. The value of taxable property in the 
city is $5,000,000. Every dollar of assessed 
property in the city must therefore pay two 
cents in taxes, and X's taxes will be $100, of 
which $90 will go to the city, $9 to the 
county, and $1 to the State. A mortgage on 
the property does not decrease the amount 
to be paid. 

Collecting Taxes :^ If a person fails to pay 

1 In some counties local arrangements make it difficult 
for absent owners of property to know when and where 
taxes are due. Every tax-collector should be obliged to 

[112] 



TAXATION 

his real-estate taxes the county treasurer is 
authorized to sell his property for the unpaid 
taxes. The property may be redeemed by 
the former owner on payment of back taxes 
with interest due and the cost and expenses 
of the tax sale. 

Public buildings, religious and charitable 
institutions, are usually free from taxation; 
they are for the benefit of the entire com- 
munity. 

State Taxes: The ordinary expenses of the 
State government are met by revenues de- 
rived from special indirect State taxes, so 
that for years there was no direct State 
tax. State revenues are provided through 
taxes on stock transfers, mortgage taxes, in- 
heritance taxes, excise, franchise, and cor- 
poration taxes. One-half the amount de- 
rived from the excise tax goes to the State 
and one-half to the community from which 
it comes. 

Every stock company incorporated under 
any law of the State must pay a tax upon 
the amount of its capital stock and upon any 
subsequent increase. The earnings of cor- 
porations doing business in the State are 
also taxed. 

follow the usage of any good business house and mail a 
bill for taxes. 

[113] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

An Inheritance Tax is a tax imposed on 
the transfer of property at death by will, 
or by operation of law in case of intes- 
tacy. The rate of this tax varies according 
to the value of the property or share of 
the recipient and his kinship to decedent. 
A higher rate is levied on a large bequest or 
share than on a small one, and a larger per- 
centage is levied when the bequest or share 
goes to distant kin or to a stranger than 
when it goes to a close relative. 

The direct property tax is now used to pay 
off the interest and gradually the principal 
of the State debt. 

The estimated resources and revenues, not 
including the direct tax, for the State for 
1918 are: 

Cash balance, July ist ...... $11,084,423 

Stenographers' tax 431,607 

Excise tax 5,750,000 

Corporation tax 20,000,000 

Incorporation tax 1,400,000 

Inheritance tax 14,000,000 

Stock transfer tax 6,100,000 

Investment tax 2,500,000 

Mortgage tax 1,180,000 

Motor Vehicle tax 2,375,000 

Canal maintenance receipts .... 150,000 

Other revenues 4,554,150 

Total $69,525,180 

[114] 



TAXATION 

The Board of Equalization meets in Albany 
once a year to examine the reports from the 
different counties of the value of their tax- 
able property, and to equalize the amount of 
their taxation. The State tax commissioners, 
who must personally visit the counties and 
examine the local rolls, and the land office 
commissioners form this board. 

Federal Taxes: The United States gov- 
ernment even before the war required an 
enormous amount of money with which to 
conduct its business. In the past its chief 
sources of revenue have been custom duties 
and internal-revenue taxes. 

Custom Duties are taxes levied on the im- 
portation of articles into the United States 
from foreign countries. The tariff, which 
fixes the rates of the impost taxes, has been 
a constant subject for dispute between the 
major political parties. Whether the tariff 
should be imposed ''for revenue only," or 
whether it should be "a protective tariff" to 
protect American industries and American 
labor from the cheap labor of other coun- 
tries, has been the chief point of difference 
between Republicans and Democrats at 
National elections. Impost taxes are in- 
direct taxes which eventually come out of 
the pockets of the people in increased prices 

[lis] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

of the articles imported, and incidentally 
they raise the prices of similar articles of 
domestic manufacture. 

Internal Revenue or Excise Taxes are taxes 
imposed on business or on the manufacture 
and sale of articles in the United States. 
The most important taxes of this character 
are those on the manufacture and sale of 
liquor and tobacco. The manufacture and 
sale of cosmetics, perfumes, oleomargarine, 
and playing-cards are also subject to internal- 
revenue taxes. In many cases these taxes 
are paid by the sale of stamps to the manu- 
facturer, who has to affix them to the article 
before it is sold. As with many other kinds 
of taxation, the public, the ultimate con- 
sumer, pays this tax. 

The Income Tax is a tax on the income of 
a person. Many who do not own land or 
other tangible property enjoy an income. 
As a farmer has to pay a tax on his farm, 
so a lawyer who has a lucrative practice, 
but does not own land or stocks, and the 
man who has an income from investments, 
are all required to pay their share of govern- 
ment expenses. 

The income-tax law of 1916 taxes all in- 
comes of married couples in excess of $4,000, 
and all incomes of unmarried persons in 

[116] 



TAXATION 

excess of $3,000. To provide further war 
revenue, an additional tax was imposed in 
191 7 on the income of every unmarried per- 
son in excess of $1,000 a year, and of every 
married couple in excess of $2,000 a year. 
The rate of these taxes increases with the 
size of the income. The combined income 
taxes may amount to as much as 67 per cent, 
in case of the largest incomes. 

Public Debt; Bonds: If the government 
needs more money than it wishes to raise by 
taxation, it can borrow it by issuing bonds. 
A bond is a promise to pay a certain definite 
sum of money at a certain time with a fixed 
rate of interest. United States government 
bonds are the safest investment in the world. 
The State and municipalities may also issue 
bonds, although the amount a city may borrow 
may be hniited by the value of its assessed 
property. The interest on bonds and the pay- 
ment of the principal must be met by taxation. 

Bonds should not be issued to pay for the 
running e^^penses of government, because 
that is putting on future generations the 
unjust burden of paying for something for 
which they receive no return. Their legiti- 
mate use is to meet the cost of some improve- 
ment which will continue to benefit those 
who go on paying for it. 

I117] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

When bonds are issued provision should be 
made for the redemption of their principal. 
This is done in New York State by raising 
annually by direct taxation a fixed sum to 
be invested and kept as a separate fund 
called a ''sinking fund," to be used only for 
this purpose. A sinking fund for the pay- 
ment of the interest and for the redemption 
of the debt of the State is required by the 
State constitution. 

The Budget: Before undertaking an enter- 
prise a wise man considers how much it is 
going to cost, and where the money is coming 
from. A budget is a summary of the esti- 
mated expenses for the following year of the 
different departments of the government. 
It is a business-like method of determining 
the amount of money which should be 
raised by a State or municipality to meet its 
necessary expenses. The budget for New 
York State is made by the Legislature from 
an estimate furnished by each of the adminis- 
trative departments of the State. It in- 
cludes in detail the amount of salaries, 
traveling expenses, and maintenance of each 
department. 

The making of a budget for a city is of 
the greatest importance to the taxpayers. 
Public hearings are held on it, when tax- 

[ii8] 



TAXATION 

payers may be heard for or against the use 
of the money in the designated way, and 
when they may ask for additional appropria- 
tions for some city activity. Public servants 
in this, as in every other department of 
service, work best under supervision. The 
taxpayer owes it to himself to maintain ade- 
quate representation at these hearings. It is 
on the basis of the budget as finally adopted 
that taxes are adjusted for the following 
year. (See Chapter IV on Greater New 
York.) 

The National government has not yet 
adopted the budget plan, and the President 
has not the power to veto any item of an 
appropriation bill unless he vetoes the entire 
measure. 

This is a limitation which is greatly de- 
plored, as it prevents him from cutting out 
any provision in the bill which he may think 
unwarranted or extravagant, or which has 
come out of the "pork-barrel." This is a 
term applied to appropriations given by 
Congress to certain local communities for 
some Federal building or for the develop- 
ment of some local resource which is not of 
advantage to the National government, and 
which is given not because there is any need 
for it, but because the representative from 

[119] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

that district in Congress wants to make him- 
self popular with his constituents by getting 
for them some public plunder. 

Every Dollar That Is Spent in Any Depart- 
ment of Government Comes Out of the 
Pockets of the People: It is not easy for the 
public to realize this. The Congressman 
who gets an extra appropriation for a post- 
office or other public building that is not 
needed, in order to please his home people, 
may get more votes, but he is adding to the 
public burden. In return for a vote for his 
post-office he may have to give his vote to 
a fellow-Congressman for an unnecessary ex- 
penditure in another State. The chain so 
formed is practically endless, and its inevi- 
table effect is to raise the cost of govern- 
ment unwarrantably. Every such expendi- 
ture, every unnecessary public salary, every 
dishonest public official, every tax-dodger, 
every incompetent piece of public work, adds 
to the burden of taxation which the people 
have to pay. 



XII 

PUBLIC HIGHWAYS 

ROAD-MAKING has been a function of 
^ government since the early ages. The 
old Roman roads still exist as evidence of 
the labor and care that were put into them. 

Ease of communication, which permits peo- 
ple to journey from home and see what the 
rest of the world is doing, is a great factor 
in binding people together, and tends to oro- 
mote progress. 

Good roads are important to every citizen, 
not only because of the increased use of the 
automobile, but because they are a vital 
part of the business life of the country. The 
farmer needs them to move his crops to 
market. Without them he may be unable 
to sell his produce at the time it is most 
needed and when he could get the best prices 
for it. The merchant needs them to receive 
supplies and make deliveries; the manu- 
facturer needs them for the moving of his 

9 [l2l] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

raw material; the city-dweller needs them 
so that food may come into city markets. 
Public highways are the connecting arteries 
between city and country. 

New York State has recognized the need 
of good roads, and has spent an immense 
amount of money to secure them. Some 
years ago a bond issue of $50,000,000 was 
authorized in the belief that such a large 
sum of money would put the roads in a 
condition to meet all requirements for many 
years. 

In 1907 the Legislature approved contracts 
for 8,300 miles of county highways, believing 
that the money available would be sufficient. 
The following year it approved contracts for 
3,600 miles of State highways and another 
bond issue of $50,000,000 was found neces- 
sary. Not only had the cost of labor and 
material greatly increased, but in addition 
the use of motor-trucks and motor-buses 
was beginning to put a strain on roads and 
road-beds which had not been anticipated. 

Old roads began to go to pieces rapidly 
and needed constant repair and often replac- 
ing. Even the new roads, where the road- 
beds were of stone only six inches deep, soon 
spread and disintegrated under trucks weigh- 
ing from one to fifteen tons. This use of 

[122] 



PUBLIC HIGHWAYS 

motor- trucks is increasing, and is necessary 
for the traffic requirements of the State, but 
highways are being subject to a strain hither- 
to unknown, and this strain will increase in 
both quantity and severity. 

How to meet the requirements and main- 
tain and repair roads built for light traffic 
which are giving way under the new demands, 
and how to build new roads strong enough 
to stand up under the strain, are problems 
the State finds it difficult to meet. New 
road-beds are now required of stone from 
nine to twelve inches deep. 

Some roads are built by the State, some 
by the county, and some by the town. In 
many cases the cost of the work is divided 
between county and town, or between county 
and State. The State may help a town 
build a road, but it can only contribute the 
same amount or less than the town appro- 
priates. 

All material that is used in road-building 
must be tested in the laboratories maintained 
by the State Highway Department, and 
constant experiments are being made to test 
materials and specifications to find out what 
will stand the hardest wear. 

All roads must be built and repaired under 
the direction of the State Highway Com- 

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YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

tnissioner, but whether these instructions are 
carried out often depends on local officials. 
The public believes that there has been no 
part of government in New York State more 
honeycombed with fraud than the one of 
road-building and maintaining; that speci- 
fications have been skimped or ignored, dif- 
ferent materials have been substituted from 
those prescribed, cheaper construction of 
every kind passed by inspectors, and that 
the result has been that many roads of the 
State have cost vast sums of money for which 
the State is in debt and have not lasted 
even a few years. 

In 19 1 6 the State had a total of 4,027 miles 
of macadam roads and 5,836 miles of gravel 
town roads, and more than half of all the 
improved roads in the State had been con- 
structed within five years. There were 728 
patrolmen employed looking after repairs. 

The entire cost of bridges is met by the 
towns with occasional aid from the county. 
If a State road goes through a village, the 
same amount is allowed as for the rest of 
the construction, and if the village wants 
another kind of a paving or a wider road it 
must pay the difference in cost. The State 
Highway Department gives as averages of 
cost: for macadam roads $10,000 a mile; 

[124] 



PUBLIC HIGHWAYS 

first-class concrete, $15,000 a mile; and brick 
paving, $25,000 a mile. 

The State highway law provides that all 
construction must be done by contract. 
Prison labor is not employed on State and 
county roads as in some States, but it has 
been used on roads built by towns. 

In spite of the huge appropriations, the 
State roads are far from complete as planned. 
Nearly $750,000 will be available in 19 18 
from the National government as part of 
New York State's share in the Federal ap- 
propriation for roads. 

''Working out" a road tax was never a 
method which contributed to good roads. 
The earth roads on which the taxpayer puts 
his unskilled labor are usually impassable 
many months of the year. 

City Streets: The local government decides 
where a road or street is needed, and with 
the consent of a sufficient proportion of the 
property-owners may purchase or condemn 
the necessary property. If the owner is not 
satisfied with the payment offered, appraisers 
must be appointed to decide the amount that 
should be paid. 

City streets must be maintained by the 
city government. If a person is injured by 
the failure of the government to keep side- 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

walks in repair he has a right to sue the 
government for damages. The municipal 
government, on the other hand, may require 
property-owners to keep their sidewalks in 
good condition. 

Street-cleaning: Since many thousands of 
children have no playground but the street, 
the condition in which city streets are kept 
is of great importance to their health and 
general welfare. Disease germs are heavy 
and are most numerous near the ground. 
If playgrounds could be arranged on the 
roofs of high buildings the children would 
be the gainers from the pure air. Unfortu- 
nately, the streets in which they play are 
not usually the ones which are cleaned most 
frequently by the street-cleaning depart- 
ment. Old and young are disorderly — news- 
papers, cigarette-butts, and fruit-skins are 
thrown down anywhere. Streets littered with 
papers, with dust-laden pieces blowing back 
and forth, increase the dangers from disease. 

Carelessness on the part of the public in 
throwing things into the streets adds many 
thousands of dollars to the cost of street- 
cleaning departments. Every time that a 
person throws a paper or any object into the 
street eventually some one else must be paid 
to pick it up. 

[126] 



PUBLIC HIGHWAYS 

Most municipalities have ordinances 
against littering the streets, but they are 
often dead letters. 

The cleanliness and good order of city 
streets pay in dollars and cents, in public 
comfort and convenience, and in a lowered 
death-rate. 

Parks: With the congestion of population 
that is not confined to New York City or 
any one part of the State, parks large and 
small have become a necessity not only for 
pleasure and beauty, but for the health of 
the community. In the country people can 
be out of doors as much as they please, but 
when families are obliged to live close to- 
gether, "breathing-places" are of actual 
physical benefit, especially if they can be 
green with grass and trees. Communities 
often awaken to the need of parks too late, 
after all available places are occupied, when 
in order to provide the necessary oasis 
property has to be condemned and often 
enormous sums of money paid for it. 

City Planning: Most of our cities have 
grown up haphazard without any definite 
plan of development. As new industries 
have come in they have brought in large 
numbers of employees, who have had to 
be provided with living-places, and a new 

[127] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

section of the city has been started. Or a 
real-estate boom, fostered by some private 
enterprise, will develop another quarter with- 
out consideration for the welfare of the in- 
coming population. As land values advance, 
in order to squeeze all the profit possible out 
of this increase, high crowded buildings 
spring up, planned to house as many people 
as possible in a restricted area. New York 
City and many other places are continuing to 
create new tenement districts in outlying quar- 
ters of the city where land is still plentiful. 

It is not easy to change congested areas 
built up in the past, but it is a wrong to 
coming generations to continue to allow con- 
siderations of health and decency to be 
ignored in the future growth of cities. Hap- 
hazard growth has cost the public dearly 
in actual money values. Unrestricted 
crowded living conditions have cost still 
more dearly in the moral and physical vitality 
of the people who have had to put up with 
them. These mistakes of the past cannot 
be remedied, but cities and villages are still 
growing, and the wise community is now 
developing a plan in advance for its future 
growth, which will safeguard public health 
and welfare, and the convenience as well as 
the beauty of the city. 

[128] 



PUBLIC HIGHWAYS 

The Value of Beauty: Streets and roads 
do not need to be bare and ugly. Some at- 
tention paid to appearance costs very little 
and is a distinct benefit to the public. Weeds 
are usually cut down along the roadside, 
but so, too often, are the trees. When one 
thinks of the many years it takes for a tree 
to attain a fine growth, one wonders at the 
carelessness with which they are sacrificed. 
A well-shaded road bordered by trees, or a 
shaded city street, testifies to the intelligence 
and thrift of the people responsible for them. 
Such care is apt to be repaid by increased 
property values. 



XIII 



COURTS 



IN the United States there are two classes 
of courts — State courts and United States 
or Federal courts. The State courts of 
each State derive their jurisdiction and 
powers from the constitution and laws of 
the State. The United States courts de- 
rive their jurisdiction and powers from the 
Constitution and laws of the United States. 

The functions of the courts are to hear 
and decide criminal and civil cases. 

Criminal Cases are prosecutions or proceed- 
ings by the State or Federal government to 
enforce the laws made for the preservation of 
peace, law, and order in the community, by 
the imposition of fines, or imprisonment, or 
the punishment of death, in case of their 
violation. 

Civil Cases are suits or proceedings brought 
for the enforcement or protection of personal 
or property rights; as, for example, suits to 

[ 130] 



COURTS 

recover compensation or damages for per- 
sonal injuries, or the destruction of property, 
or for breaches of contract, or to recover 
property wrongfully taken, or to restrain by 
injunction threatened wrongful acts for which 
a suit for money damages would not be an 
adequate remedy. 

At the trial of a criminal or civil case, the 
judge supervises and directs the proceed- 
ings, and decides any question of law which 
may arise. Questions of fact, arising in 
criminal cases, and in most civil cases, are 
decided by a jury of twelve qualified citi- 
zens drawn from a panel or list; but in 
certain classes of civil cases the judge de- 
cides questions of fact as well as questions 
of law. 

Civil as well as criminal cases must be 
commenced and carried on in a manner pre- 
scribed by law or by rules of the courts. In 
New York the laws of procedure are com- 
monly believed to be unnecessarily compli- 
cated and technical. Innumerable contro- 
versies have arisen as to their meaning and 
effect. They have been amended and sup- 
plemented by many statutes, and there is 
a strong movement among lawyers to secure 
the adoption of a simpler and more workable 
system of procedure. 

1 131] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

In New York State the courts are of the 
following classes: Justices of the Peace, or 
Justices' Courts, try petty criminal cases in- 
volving small thefts, drunkenness, disorderly 
conduct, and breach of the peace, and cer- 
tain ordinary civil suits involving sums of not 
over $200. A person accused of serious 
crime before a justice of the peace may be 
held to await action of a grand jury. 

In New York City, and in various other 
cities of the State, the functions of the jus- 
tices' courts are performed by courts called 
Municipal Courts, City Courts^ Magistrates 
or Police Courts, the latter having jurisdic- 
tion only over petty criminal cases. The 
powers and duties, as well as the names of 
these lower coiu*ts, vary in the different 
cities. 

It is most important that honest, sym- 
pathetic men should preside over these lower 
courts, for in them are tried the small of- 
fenses which may be due to ignorance of 
law, and a large number of people come in 
contact with government in no other way. 

Most arrests are for minor offenses such 
as drunkenness, disorderly conduct, etc. 
They are tried here, and many of them bring 
first offenders into court, where the treat- 
ment received by the person accused may 

[132] 



COURTS 

determine whether he will become a habitual 
offender or whether he will be set straight. 
Many foreigners come into these courts, and 
receive in them their first impression of jus- 
tice as administered in this country. Often- 
times the offense is committed through 
ignorance or stupidity. A kind word or a 
helping hand may make all the difference 
between a future good citizen or a crook. 
In these courts, as in the justices courts of 
the town or village, there is great need of 
a careful choice of magistrates. 

County Courts: In every county except 
New York there is a county court pre- 
sided over by the elected county judge. In 
these county courts may be tried civil suits 
in which the sum involved is not over $2,000 
and all crimes except those punishable by 
death. They also hear appeals from the jus- 
tices' courts. The county courts in Queens, 
Bronx, Richmond, Kings, Ulster, and Al- 
bany counties may try cases involving the 
death penalty. 

Surrogates' Courts: In each county there 
is a surrogate court, held by a judge called 
''the Surrogate," who is elected by the 
voters of the county for a term of six years 
(except in the county of New York) . In this 
court wills are probated, the estates of per- 

[133] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

sons deceased are settled, and guardians for 
minors and executors or administrators for 
estates of decedents are appointed. It is 
evident that a county surrogate should be a 
man of strictest probity as well as good 
business sense. 

Court of Claims: Any one who has a 
claim against the State may take it to the 
Court of Claims, which consists of three 
judges appointed by the governor with the 
approval of the Senate. Appeals from its 
decisions may be taken to the Appellate 
Division of the Supreme Court. 

The Supreme Court: Above the county 
courts are the Supreme Courts, which, how- 
ever, are not really supreme, as their de- 
cisions are subject to review, and may be 
reversed upon appeal by the Appellate Di- 
vision or the Court of Appeals. The Supreme 
Courts may try any civil or criminal cases, 
including prosecutions for murder. There 
are more than one hundred Supreme Court 
justices in the State, elected by the voters 
of the various districts, and the entire State 
is divided into nine judicial districts, in which 
certain of these Supreme Court justices sit. 
In every county, at a certain time, a Supreme 
Court justice holds a trial courts where both 
civil and criminal cases are heard before a 

[134] 



COURTS 

trial jury. He also holds a special terniy 
where he hears and decides motions and 
civil cases in which no iury trial is re- 
quired. 

Appellate Divisions of the Supreme Court: 
As judges are human and may make mis- 
takes, the law provides a right of appeal 
from the court in which a case is tried. 
The whole State is divided into four judicial 
departments, in each of which there is an 
Appellate Division of the Supreme Court. 
From the Supreme Court justices the gov- 
ernor chooses the justices for the Appellate 
Divisions. These Appellate Divisions hear 
appeals from decisions of the county courts 
and of the Supreme Courts, and they may sit 
wherever the public interest demands. They 
do not try cases originally, but only hear 
appeals. 

The Court of Appeals is composed of a 
chief judge and nine associate judges, but 
only seven judges sit at one time. This 
court is the State court of last resort, 
and it may reverse a decision of an Appel- 
late Division of the Supreme Court. In 
most cases no appeal lies to the Court of 
Appeals from a decision of a question of fact 
by a lower court, but only questions of law 
can be reviewed; but in criminal cases 

[i3S] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

where the sentence is death the entire case 
may be reviewed. 

Courts of Record are those courts that have 
an official seal and keep an official record of all 
proceedings. The Surrogate's Court, the 
County Court, the Supreme Court and its 
appellate divisions, and the Court of Ap- 
peals are courts of record. Justices' Courts 
and Magistrates' Courts are not courts of 
record. 

Federal Courts: The jurisdiction of the 
United States or Federal courts extends to 
all cases in law and equity arising under 
the Constitution and laws of the United 
States, to all cases affecting ambassadors and 
other public ministers and consuls, to ad- 
miralty and maritime cases, and to con- 
troversies between States or between citizens 
of different States. Federal courts are or- 
ganized in a similar way to State courts. 

The United States District Courts hear, in 
the first instance, all classes of cases over 
which the United States courts have juris- 
diction, except the cases mentioned below. 
The entire country is divided into ninety 
judicial districts, and each State has at least 
one district. 

The United States Court of Claims, 
which is located in Washington, has juris- 

[136] 



COURTS 

diction over claims against the United 
States government. 

The Circuit Court of Appeals is an appel- 
late court by which decisions of the United 
States district courts may be reviewed. 

The United States Supreme Court is the 
highest tribunal in the land. In cases affect- 
ing ambassadors and consuls, and those to 
which the State is a party, the Supreme 
Court has original jurisdiction. Other cases 
can come before it only upon an appeal, or 
writ of error, to review a decision of a lower 
United States court or a decision of the 
highest State court involving a question of 
Federal law. There is a chief justice and 
eight associate justices of the Supreme Court, 
who are appointed for life. To be a justice 
of the Supreme Court of the United States is 
considered one of the highest honors in the 
land. 

The judges of all the Federal courts are 
appointed by the President with the con- 
sent of the Senate. 

Constitutionality of the Law: One im- 
portant power which the courts have is to 
interpret the meaning of the Constitution 
and laws, but they have no power to do so 
except so far as necessary to the disposal of 
cases before them, 
lo [ 137 ] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

The constitution of the State is its funda- 
mental law, as that of the United States 
(together with the laws made by Congress 
under it and treaties made by the United 
States) is the supreme law of the entire 
United States. A question may arise as to 
the precise meaning and scope of a con- 
stitutional provision. In this case the court 
may interpret its meaning, and may declare 
void a law because in violation of the con- 
stitution. 

An Injunction is an order or decree issued 
by a court, restraining some person or per- 
sons or corporation from performing certain 
acts, on the ground that such acts would 
cause an injury or loss, for which a suit to 
recover money damages would not furnish 
adequate redress. A temporary injunction, 
or restraining order, may be issued upon affi- 
davits, in advance of the final trial of a case, 
when it may either be dissolved or be made 
permanent. An injunction may also com- 
mand the performance of some act. In such 
cases it is called a mandatory injunction. If 
an injunction is violated, the person disobey- 
ing can be arrested and sent to jail or fined 
"for contempt of court" without trial by 
jury. Many efforts have been made to 
limit this power of the courts. In Okla- 

[138] 



COURTS 

homa, the law provides for jury trial in case 
of contempt of court for violation of an 
injunction. 

Judges are elected for a longer term of 
years than are other public officials. County 
judges have a six-year term. Supreme Court 
justices and judges of the Court of Appeals 
are elected for a term of fourteen years. 
The reason for the longer term of service is 
that the increased experience is supposed to 
make a judge more valuable to the State; 
also, on account of the long term, he is sup- 
posed to be less affected by political con- 
siderations. 

Whether judges should be appointed or 
elected has been a matter of considerable con- 
troversy. It is argued that if they are ap- 
pointed, the appointment may be a reward 
for political service instead of because of 
fitness for the position. On the other hand, 
if judges are elected, it is objected that they 
must take part in political contests, and are 
apt to give decisions more with regard to 
popular favor than to actual justice. Many 
persons think that in practice better judges 
are obtained by appointment than by popu- 
lar election. State judges are usually elected, 
but the Federal judges are appointed. 

The election of proper men for the position 
[139I 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

of judge is one of the most important duties 
of an electorate. Whether the process of 
the law insures justice and increases public 
security depends often more on the judge 
than on the letter of the law. Decisions in- 
volving the happiness, rights, and lives of 
countless people go through the courts of 
the State. These decisions should not be in 
the hands of men to whom the office has been 
given as a reward for party service, or who 
have been put in the position by prejudiced 
interests. A wise, intelligent, public-spirited 
judge has enormous opportunity to add to 
the sum of public welfare. 



XIV 

THE PUNISHMENT OP CRIME 

A CRIME is an offense against the peo- 
ple of the State. Also every action that 
is brought before a court costs the State 
money and adds to the burden of taxation 
borne by the people. 

A free government carefully guards the 
rights of an accused person. He must be 
told of the charges against him and be given 
every chance to answer them. He is pre- 
sumed by the law to be innocent until he is 
proved guilty, and is not obliged to answer 
any questions that may incriminate himself. 
He may be examined at once by a magis- 
trate, or, if he prefers, may be committed 
to jail to await a future examination. If 
held for any except the most serious crime 
he may be allowed his liberty by some one 
"giving bail" — that is, giving a pledge of 
money or property to insure his appearance 
in court at a certain date. If he ''jumps his 

1 141] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

bail" the money is forfeited to the State, al- 
though that does not protect him if he can 
be found. If the charge of which he is ac- 
cused is a serious one, it must come before 
a grand jury. 

The Grand Jury is a body of men chosen 
from the taxpayers of a county to inquire 
into alleged crimes during a particular term 
of court. The supervisors or the com- 
missioner of jurors makes out a list of three 
hundred names of men of integrity and sound 
judgment, from which the names of twenty- 
four men are drawn by lot.* From sixteen to 
twenty-three of these men sit in secret 
session, and hear the presentment of a case, 
and decide by a vote of at least twelve 
members whether the evidence is sufficient 
to warrant holding the accused for trial. 

The necessity of a case coming before the 
grand jury often causes much delay in a 
trial, as the jury can only be called when 
court is in session, and there are often long 
periods of time between courts. On the other 
hand, the fact that the grand jury is made 
up of a man's neighbors and friends, who 
would be disposed to give him fair treatment, 
is a safeguard to his interests. If "a true 
bill" is found, the accused person comes be- 
fore the court and the charge against him 

[142] 



THE PUNISHMENT OF CRIME 

is read to him. If he pleads guilty the judge 
imposes a sentence. If he pleads "not 
guilty" the trial proceeds. 

If the accused has no lawyer, the court 
must appoint one for him. While a man so 
appointed must defend the case, the best 
lawyers are not secured in this way. There 
has been considerable demand for the crea- 
tion of the office of public defender for 
accused persons. The State employs public 
prosecutors, and it is argued that it should 
be as much interested in proving a man's 
innocence as in proving his guilt. 

Trial by Jury is a right guaranteed by the 
constitutions of both the State and the 
nation. A trial jury is composed of twelve 
men chosen from a list of qualified men in 
the county where the crime is committed, or 
is being tried. After the evidence in the case 
has been presented and the judge makes his 
charge as to the law applicable to the case, 
the jury retires to a secret session, where 
they are kept in confinement until they reach 
a unanimous verdict. In England it requires 
only a majority of the jury to render a verdict. 

Jury Service is one of the important duties 
of a citizen. It is not required of certain 
classes of men — viz., clergymen, physicians, 
druggists, lawyers, and newspaper-men, 

[ 143 ] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

among others — and judges have the power 
to excuse men on whom jury service would 
entail special hardship. Jurors are paid a 
small sum by the day, and to many men jury 
service means serious inconvenience and 
financial loss. But to leave the settlement of 
cases which involve the serious welfare of both 
individuals and the public, to professional 
jurors, the hangers-on of a court-room, is 
a great wrong to the community. 

Women Jurors* have not yet been per- 
mitted in New York State, although in some 
Western States they have served with much 
success. There are certain cases involving 
young girls and children where it would seem 
that only women should be allowed on the 
jury. Cases of murder committed by a 
woman might be treated with more impar- 
tial justice if women served on such juries. 
Sentimental considerations would not influ- 
ence them as they do some men in such cases. 

The Police: Much of the public welfare 
and safety of a city depends on its police force. 
A modern police is organized on a military 
basis. The men hold their positions for life 
or during good behavior. Promotions are 
based on merit, and pensions are paid men 
who have served a certain term of years. 
This plan has improved conditions by taking 

[ 144 1 



THE PUNISHMENT OF CRIME 

the police out of politics to a large degree. 
The policy of the head of the department is 
of the greatest importance to the public. 
The temptations for graft and corruption in 
a police department are enormous, but the 
assurance of a square deal all up and down 
the line, strict orders to uphold the law, 
and a well-defined policy against graft of 
every description, will do wonders to keep 
a department honest and efficient. 

In recent years the plan has been de- 
veloped of making the police helpful in many 
ways in the life of the city. The uniformed 
officer has many opportunities to help and 
direct children, especially the boys on the 
streets, to prevent violations of the city's 
ordinances, the littering of the, streets, and in 
many ways to prevent before the act, rather 
than to arrest after it has been committed. 

This helpful spirit has been adopted by 
the police of New York City, to the great 
good of the city. It is exemplified in the 
Christmas trees in the station-houses for the 
poorer children of a neighborhood at Christ- 
mas-time. 

Prison Reform: Modem government is 
learning not to avenge itself on a criminal, 
but to impose a sentence which will tend to 
reform him. Instead of sentencing a person 

[145) 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

to a definite term of imprisonment, an in- 
determinate sentence may be given him, the 
length of which will be determined by his 
behavior, and by the promise he may show 
of leading a better life if set free. If he is 
released he may be put on probation. This 
means that he is required to report at regular 
intervals to the court, or to a probation officer, 
to show that his conduct is law-abiding. If 
he goes wrong again, he is remanded to serve 
out his sentence. 

Men and women, wherever confined, must 
be given employment. Idleness is bad for 
even an educated person. Imposed on one 
who has no resources within himself, it be- 
comes a source of demoralization scarcely 
to be measured. The old custom was to hire 
prisoners out to contractors at low wages. 
This brought goods manufactured by prison 
labor into unfair competition with honest 
labor. 

The modem idea is to teach the prisoner 
a useful occupation and to pay the wages to 
his family. It is not common-sense to sup- 
port a man in prison at the expense of the 
State, and to allow his family to suffer from 
having his support taken away from them. 

Probation: First offenders, or persons com- 
mitting minor offenses, are often put at once 

[146I 



THE PUNISHMENT OF CRIME 

on probation, with the sentence suspended 
during good behavior. This has proved of 
great value in saving many from a criminal 
career. It is far less costly to the State than 
keeping them in prison, and often leads to 
the establishment of an honest life.^ 

Jails and Prisons: Every community has 
some kind of jail for the detention of of- 
fenders. Those who come in contact with the 
law are often the poor and the friendless who 
cannot get bail. Even innocent persons 
may be held some time awaiting trial, or the 
action of the grand jury. Young girls are 
often detained, sometimes as witnesses, some- 
times pending investigation of their own 
cases, sometimes as runaways from home. 
In such a case there is no place of detention 
but the local jail. These jails are often filthy 

1 The last report of the New York State Probation 
Commission shows that on September 30, 19 16, there 
were 13,433 persons on probation, and that the number 
of inmates of the penal and reformatory institutions in 
the State was decreasing. Probation officers had them- 
selves collected $139,000 for cases of non-support, and 
had caused to be paid another sum of $206,000 for these 
cases. They had assisted men to pay, in instalments, fines 
amounting to $30,000, which meant that these men were 
kept out of jail and at work, and had helped men who 
had stolen something or had done material damage to 
some one to repay those they had injured the sum of 
$39,000. It is evident that there is a saving of hard cash 
to the State in this work as well as much of social value. 

[147] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

and unsanitary, unfit for human habitation. 
Their surroundings, and the character of the 
sheriff or constable, and jail officials, must 
inevitably have an effect on the prisoners, 
especially on the younger women. It is most 
important to the community that a woman 
shall not be sent out from jail a more hard- 
ened criminal because of her confinement 
there. It is a wrong, the responsibility for 
which every woman in the neighborhood 
must share, that there is no better place of 
detention for young girls. Women matrons 
in all prisons where women are held and 
women probation officers are now recognized 
as essential. 

It is unintelligent to allow a man to leave 
jail penniless far from his home and friends, to 
become a tramp or to be tempted to a new 
offense to get money. The modern ideal of 
criminology is that his stay in prison should 
teach a man an honest way of earning his 
living; also that he should be given some 
supervision after he has left the prison doors, 
to help him to lead an honest life. 

City Farms for the detention of offenders 
are a great improvement on indoor prisons, 
and the open-air occupation both saves the 
State money and is beneficial to the prisoner. 

The Prevention of Crime: If as much 
[148] 



THE PUNISHMENT OF CRIME 

money and organized effort could be put on 
the prevention of crime as is given to its 
punishment, the need of jails and prisons 
would be greatly lessened. The chief causes 
of crime are drunkenness, feeble-mindedness, 
overcrowded living conditions, low wages, 
and insufficient education and recreation. 
Drunkenness is now known to be a disease; 
feeble-minded persons should not be allowed 
freedom of action; the State may prevent 
congested living, it may establish a living 
wage, and it has the power to provide proper 
vocational training and sufficient facilities 
for healthful recreation. It tries to separate 
the young offenders from the older ones, and 
the first offenders from the hardened ones. 
It has not succeeded very well in preventing 
inequalities before the law. The rich man 
has the advantage of being able to employ 
the most skilful lawyers and to appeal his 
case to court after court and drag it out 
over a number of years. When a fine is im- 
posed he can pay it and so sometimes escape 
punishment. The poor man may have to 
go to jail because he cannot pay his fine and 
he is often imable to fight a suit. 

To lessen the hardships and secure equality 
of treatment for all alike should be the en- 
deavor of the State. 

[ 149 ] 



XV 

WOMEN OFFENDERS AND THE LAW 

THE Constitution of the United States 
guarantees to a person accused of crime 
a trial by an impartial jury, or by a jury of 
one's peers. The handling of cases against 
women ofEenders has little regard for that 
guarantee. Discriminations against women 
who have come in contact with the law are 
the custom. 

If any one is inclined to doubt this, let 
him imagine the case reversed and applied 
to himself. Suppose a man accused of an 
offense against the law should be accused 
by a woman, arrested by a woman, held in 
jail by a woman, tried in a court-room filled 
with women, before a jury composed only 
of women, and sentenced by a woman judge. 
Would such a man feel that he was getting 
impartial justice given him by his peers? 

Also in the treatment of cases involving 
sex, the penalty of the law rests heavily on 

[150] 



WOMEN OFFENDERS AND THE LAW 

the woman and the man usually goes free. 
Sex immorality is a crime for a woman, but 
the man, the partner in the crime, is rarely 
touched by the law. Until recently in New 
York State, even pandering, or living off the 
earnings of a prostitute, was classed, as it still 
is in some other States, as disorderly con- 
duct, in the same class of offenses as selling 
a street-car transfer. In some States adul- 
tery is still a misdemeanor. It did not be- 
come a criminal offense in New York until 
1907, and it is still almost impossible to ob- 
tain a conviction unless there are some un- 
usually revolting circumstances. Many cases 
have come into the courts of the State where 
women have been arrested in a raid on a dis- 
orderly house, and where the men found with 
them have been released, and the women 
held. 

The large majority of the arrests of women 
are for the two offenses of intoxication, and 
prostitution or street-walking. The usual 
sentence for both of these offenses is com- 
mitment to the workhouse for from eleven 
to sixty days. Nearly half the cases of in- 
toxication are of old offenders who are sen- 
tenced over and over again. Some years ago 
the Legislature passed a measure making pro- 
vision for a State farm where these women 

[iSi] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

could be sent for care and treatment, and 
where they could have useful occupation; 
but it has not yet been established. 

Prostitution: The same sentence to the 
workhouse for varying periods of from five 
to ninety days, or even six months, is the 
common one for prostitution. It is doubt- 
ful if a sentence of this kind has ever been 
of the slightest benefit to any woman so 
sentenced. The usual court procedure is a 
mill through which this class of unhappy 
beings goes, without either their reformation 
being accomplished, or their danger being 
lessened to the community. When it is 
realized also, that a considerable percentage 
of these women are feeble-minded or at least 
sub-normal, the necessity of facilities for 
examination and classification and proper 
segregation are apparent. 

The entire process of dealing with the prob- 
lem of public prostitution in New York City 
is one that is revolting from a woman's view- 
point. To rid the streets of street-walkers 
and to keep them "clean," a force of police 
in plain clothes patrols the streets. These 
police are usually the new men on the force 
selected for their youth and good looks. 
Promotion often rests on the number of ar- 
rests that they make. A smile or a nod, and 

[152] 



WOMEN OFFENDERS AND THE LAW 

a girl may respond. If she speaks, an arrest 
can and often does follow. 

This kind of training for the young men 
of the police force is degrading to them. Also, 
the fact that arrests in nine cases out of ten 
are those of women of the street, does not pre- 
clude the possibility of the arrest of a silly, 
ignorant, but innocent girl. Brought into 
court, the presumption is that she is guilty. 

There is always a first arrest for any of- 
fender against the law. The records of the 
magistrates' courts show that nearly one- 
third of the women's cases brought into 
court are first offenders. Called for the first 
time before a judge in an open court-room, 
incoherent with fright, the girl is often unable 
to say a word for herself. If she is fined, or 
sentenced to the workhouse, or held in de- 
tention pending investigation, and is kept 
in association with other women of degraded 
lives, the chances of her being reclaimed are 
practically gone. 

The law holds an accused person inno- 
cent until proved guilty, but a woman ac- 
cused of a crime against morality has to 
prove that she is innocent. Under the usual 
court procedure, a prostitute is outside the 
protection of the law and her word has no 
value in the court. 
II [153] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

Night Courts have been established in 
order that offenders arrested at night, after 
the day courts have closed, may come im- 
mediately before a magistrate, without hav- 
ing to spend the night in jail awaiting trial. 
There are separate night courts for women 
in New York City, and all arrests for prosti- 
tution or loitering are tried in these courts. 

The motive behind the establishment of 
the Women's Night Court is humanitarian, 
but it is there that one sees the discrimina- 
tion against women as the fundamental of 
the proceedings. 

Women are sentenced to terms in prison 
for offenses far less serious than those for 
which men are discharged. The discrimi- 
nation against women, and in favor of men, 
even extends to the cadet, who pursues the 
most shameful business in the world, that of 
exploiting unfortunate women. Until a few 
years ago the maximum penalty for such a 
man was six months in the workhouse. 

The law now permits a sentence of from 
two to twenty years, but convictions are 
rare. Nearly every prostitute is exploited 
by some man who takes her earnings, and on 
whom she relies to protect her from the 
police. If these cadets and procurers could 
be eliminated it would greatly diminish pro- 

[154] 



WOMEN OFFENDERS AND THE LAW 

fessional prostitution, but they are most 
difficult to reach. The women they exploit 
will often perjure themselves to save these 
men from the vengeance of the law. Also, 
the fact that no conviction can be had on 
the testimony of the woman unless supported 
by corroborative evidence, makes her afraid 
to testify against one of them. 

The Penalty of Fines: Imposing a fine as 
a punishment for prostitution should be abso- 
lutely prohibited. It does not act as a re- 
straint, and simply means that the woman 
must go out on the street to earn her fine, 
and it makes the State a partner to her 
crime. It has been abolished in practice by 
some judges; but it is still the custom in 
some courts in New York State, and is even 
imposed by some judges in New York City. 
A bill to abolish fines throughout the State 
was introduced in the Legislature of 191 6, 
but failed to pass. 

Young Girls: Girls between the ages of 
sixteen and eighteen are in the most danger- 
ous period of life. Figures show that the 
great majority of girls who become prosti- 
tutes are ruined before they reach seventeen 
years of age. 

A girl of sixteen in New York State is too 
old for the Children's Court. She may 

[155] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

therefore be held in jail with the hardened 
street-walker and the habitual drinker. If 
she is without the protection of home or 
family, she may be left alone, for the State 
makes no provision for a guardian for her 
unless she has property, when the State is 
required to provide one for her. 

Delinquency, thefts, and misdemeanors on 
the part of young girls are often the results 
of natural instincts gone wrong. Love of 
pleasure, a desire for pretty things, and a 
wish to be attractive is common to all girls. 
A false step, a yielding to temptation, fol- 
lowed by an arrest and a trial in an open 
court-room, often mean an ordeal which 
leaves an indelible mark on the girl's soul, 
and a disgrace which it is almost impossible 
for her to live down. 

Girl Victims: The most pitiful cases are 
those of very young girls brought into court 
as the victims of crime. It is difficult to 
get conviction in these cases, as corroborative 
evidence is necessary. The shock to the sen- 
sibilities of such a girl at having to tell her 
story to men and having to answer questions 
in an open court-room can scarcely be exag- 
gerated. The need of women in places of 
authority, to help in cases of such crimes, is 
great. Women probation officers are only 

[IS6] 



WOMEN OFFENDERS AND THE LAW 

the first step in the right direction, but there 
are too few of them, and whenever a move- 
ment is made toward economy, they are the 
first to be dismissed. 

Houses of Detention: A great need of 
New York City, and a need shared by every 
city in the State, is a proper place of deten- 
tion for women. As deHnquent children are 
now separated from older offenders, so de- 
linquent girls, first offenders and old of- 
fenders, and other classes of women who are 
held awaiting trial, or for investigation, or 
as witnesses, should not be obliged to asso- 
ciate indiscriminately with one another while 
awaiting the disposition of their cases. 

The need of a building large enough to 
provide for the separate detention of the 
various classes of women who are in the care 
of the court has been recognized, but so far 
little provision has been made to meet it. 
In other places in the State, wherever there 
is a court, there is need of a place of deten- 
tion for women where they will be safe from 
degrading influences, and where they will be 
under the care of other women. 

Women Judges or Judges' Assistants: The 
system which has been instituted in Chicago 
since women were given the vote, of a quiet 
talk with a woman assistant in the Court 

[157] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

of Special Sessions, in her own private office, 
instead of an open trial, has resulted in sav- 
ing many a girl who otherwise would have 
become an outcast. In certain intimate mat- 
ters it is a woman's task to question girls. 
Contrast the picture of an open court-room: 
the judge on the bench, the jury, if there is 
one, composed of men, the room filled with 
men of all descriptions, and the frightened, 
trembling child, with this private room with 
the young offender telling her story alone to 
an experienced woman. Which offers the 
best chance for saving the girl from a ruined 
life? 

Frequently the girl comes from a family 
where crowded living conditions make decent 
living almost impossible. Instead of her 
first offense coming up for inevitable punish- 
ment, it is treated with the sole object of 
prevention and cure. 

Judges in New York State cannot appoint 
women assistants without authority from the 
Legislature, and that authority the Legisla- 
ture has always refused to give. 

Policewomen, or Women Protective Offi- 
cers, are now recognized as a necessary part 
of the correctional work of a city. The work 
of the woman protective officer is very dif- 
ferent from that of the policeman. The 

[158] 



WOMEN OFFENDERS AND THE LAW 

policewoman protects and controls, rather 
than arrests. In protecting children, in car- 
ing for lost children, in acting as mother to 
the motherless, in watching over young girls, 
in getting evidence against cadets, she does 
an invaluable work. The disorderly saloon, 
the dance-hall, and the moving-picture thea- 
ter are all hunting-grounds for the white- 
slaver. In getting evidence in this sort of 
crime she is more effective than the police- 
man. There are policewomen now in fifty 
cities of the United States. 

That the whole subject of prostitution and 
the law is a most difficult one to deal with, 
there can be no question. It needs the com- 
bined intelligence of both men and women 
engaged not only in theorizing over the prob- 
lem, but in actual efforts to grapple with it. 
Until public opinion supports the single 
standard of morality, the courts will continue 
to discriminate against women. 

Unfortunately, women of all ages, even 
very young girls, are arrested. Sometimes 
they are guilty, sometimes innocent, some- 
times sinned against, sometimes only the 
victims of circumstances, but always unfor- 
tunate. Their misfortune and its results on 
their lives are more terrible than they need 

[159] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

be, because they are usually deprived of the 
help of women in places of authority. 

In the Chicago Court of Morals women are 
welcome, and there are women court officers, 
women police, and women probation officers 
who create an atmosphere entirely difEerent 
from the usual court-room. There is also 
no division of sex; when it is a question of 
morality, the man and woman are both held. 
A physical examination is made by a woman 
physician. When a woman is found to be 
diseased she is sent to a hospital to be cured. 

Some of the most progressive magistrates 
and judges are endeavoring to improve the 
methods of handling cases of women offend- 
ers, but it would seem that wherever the 
welfare and disposition of women are in- 
volved other women should be part of the 
machinery which deals with them. This is 
not so much because of sentimental con- 
siderations, for in some cases women would 
be less influenced by sentiment than men, 
but there are certain peculiarities, tendencies, 
and experiences common to each sex which 
only those of that sex can understand. In 
all cases of women offenders against the law 
other women must be concerned, and should 
be equally responsible with men for their 
handling and disposition. 

[i6o] 



XVI 

PUBLIC EDUCATION 

THE best foundation for a democracy 
rests on free educational facilities for all 
the people. An ideal school system is one 
that reaches out to every child and prepares 
him for a useful occupation, that is also 
available for the further development of 
every member of the State, and that will 
give every individual the knowledge neces- 
sary for him to do his part in government. 
A self-governing people cannot afford a class 
too ignorant to vote. 

In New York State, school attendance is 
compulsory for children between the ages of 
seven and sixteen years. An exception is 
made of children between fourteen and six- 
teen, who have completed the first six years 
of school, and have been to school 130 days 
since their fourteenth birthday. Such chil- 
dren may be employed if they have a duly 
signed work certificate. In cities of the first 

[161] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

and second classes, boys between fourteen 
and sixteen who are employed during the 
day, who do not hold certain certificates, 
must attend night school sixteen weeks in 
the year. Truant officers must be appointed 
in every city, town, and village to enforce 
the law. Parents who fail to send their 
children to school are guilty of a misde- 
meanor. 

The School District is the smallest di- 
vision of the State, and must maintain a free 
common school at least thirty-six weeks in 
the year. In 191 7, an amendment to the 
school law was passed which abolished the 
old school-district system, that dated from 
1795, and wjiich makes it possible for the 
children of the rural districts to have some 
of the facilities for modem education which 
have heretofore been confined to larger 
communities. 

In place of the former school trustees for 
the separate school districts, there is now one 
board of education for each town, and this 
board has charge of all the schools in the 
town. There are 4,000 schools in the State 
which have less than ten pupils each. The 
value of taxable property in many of these 
school districts is very small. The school tax 
has been the only State tax which has been 

[162] 



PUBLIC EDUCATION 

assessed in such small units. The needs of 
each school district had to be met by the 
taxation of that one district. For all other 
State expenses the county is the unit of tax- 
ation and taxes are assessed equally all 
over the county, and the apportionment 
made according to the needs of each district. 
Under the present law, by treating the town 
as a unit for school taxes, all property in the 
town is assessed equally, and the money 
raised is used for the benefit of all the town. 

In this way the rich and poor districts 
share more equally in school facilities. 

The initial expenses of making the change 
have increased school taxes in some places 
for the first year, but the change will un- 
doubtedly work to the great benefit of the 
children of the State, and is along the lines 
adopted some years ago by most of the other 
States. Villages of over 1,500 people are 
outside the provision of the new town law. 
If the people of two or more school districts 
wish to combine, they may vote to consoli- 
date and establish a central school.* 

The Town Board of Education consists of 
from three to Rve members who are elected 
for a term of three years each and who ap- 
point their own clerk and treasurer. 

They have larger power than was given to 
[163] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

the former school trustee. They have charge 
of all school property; they determine the 
kind of schools that are needed; they may 
establish high schools, vocational, industrial, 
agricultural, and night schools; they deter- 
mine the number of teachers to be em- 
ployed, and their salaries; they may employ 
medical inspectors and nurses, and may pro- 
vide transportation for children attending 
school. 

The Annual School Meeting to elect the 
Board of Education is held the first Tuesday 
in May. 

Qualifications for Voters: At this meeting 
any one living in the district can vote who 
is a citizen twenty-one years old, a resident 
in the district for thirty days, who owns 
or rents or has under contract of purchase 
taxable property in the district; or has had 
a child, either his own or residing with him, 
in school for at least eight weeks during the 
year preceding; or who owns personal prop- 
erty exceeding $50 which was assessed on 
the last assessment roll. 

Candidates for the board of education may 
be nominated on petition of twenty-five 
voters. Men and women who are duly quali- 
fied electors are eligible to the board. 

Annual School Budget: The board of 
[164] 



PUBLIC EDUCATION 

education must prepare an itemized budget 
of the amount necessary to be raised for 
school purposes, and must publish it in July 
for public consideration. Additional money 
may only be raised by a vote of the school 
district indorsed by the district superin- 
tendent. The building of a school, or repairs 
costing over $5,000, must be submitted to a 
vote of the school electors. 

A board of school directors is elected in each 
town, consisting of two men, each with a term 
of five years, but elected in different years. 

The Supervisory District: Each county, 
except those in Greater New York, is di- 
vided into from one to eight supervisory 
districts. (Villages and cities of over 5,000 
people are not included, as they make their 
own provisions. Each of these has a board 
of education.) 

The District Superintendent is the director 
of a supervisory district. He is chosen by 
the board of school directors and is engaged 
for a term of five years and paid $1,200 a 
year by the State, with an additional allow- 
ance of $300 for traveling expenses. The 
supervisors of the towns in his district may 
vote to increase his salary, the increase to 
come out of the taxes raised in the towns in 
the district. 

[165] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

A man or a woman twenty-one years of 
age, and a citizen and resident of the State, 
is eligible for the office, provided he or she 
has a State teacher's certificate and can pass 
an examination in the teaching of agriculture. 

The District Superintendent has the gen- 
eral supervision of the schools in his district. 
He is responsible for the instruction given in 
them and the discipline that is maintained. 
He examines candidates for teachers' posi- 
tions, under the direction of the State Com- 
missioner of Education. 

Union Free School Districts have been per- 
mitted under State law for many years in 
cities and villages. Some years ago this law 
was extended to include rural districts, and 
during the past few years about 500 rural 
school districts have been discontinued and 
consolidated with adjoining districts. Many 
of the discontinued schools had only a hand- 
ful of pupils, the buildings and equipment 
were primitive and inadequate, and the small 
amount of money available made it impos- 
sible for the school to offer any advantages. 
The union of school districts has given better 
educational facilities to the rural districts. 
The children have been taken to school by 
wagons provided for their transportation, and 
have had the advantages of a larger school, 

[166] 



PUBLIC EDUCATION 

a higher grade of teachers, and better facili- 
ties of all kinds for modern education. The 
new educational law provides still greater de- 
velopment in this direction. 

Physical Training is compulsory in all 
schools, public and private, for children over 
eight years of age for at least twenty min- 
utes a day. The State gives financial aid 
in the training. 

MiHtary training is compulsory for boys 
between the ages of sixteen and nineteen in 
public and private secondary schools and col- 
leges. The name "military" is misleading, 
for the law provides that the development of 
"correct bearing, mental and physical alert- 
ness, disciplined initiative, sense of duty, 
self-control, and a spirit of co-operation under 
leadership" is to be given special attention. 

School Money: For many years it has 
been recognized that sufficient educational 
facilities could not be provided for every 
part of the State through local taxation. 

Besides the money raised by the school 
districts, the State contributes large sums of 
money for the support of pubHc schools. 
Part of this money is the income from certain 
educational funds belonging to the State, 
which cannot be used for any other purpose, 
and part is money appropriated by the State 

[167] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

Legislature. This money is distributed by 
the State Commissioner of Education accord- 
ing to the needs of the school districts. 

City schools are subject to the same gen- 
eral supervision of the State Commissioner 
of Education, but are under the direction of 
local boards of education, and local superin- 
tendents of schools. 

Normal Schools for training teachers are 
maintained by the State out of school funds, 
and teachers' meetings are held in the super- 
visory districts to help and improve teachers. 

The University of the State of New York, 
which is at the head of the entire educational 
system of the State, is not a university in 
the ordinary sense of the word. It is a com- 
bination of all of the colleges and secondary 
schools of the State. It is governed by a 
Board of Regents, twelve men elected by the 
State Legislature for twelve years each, but 
whose terms begin in different years, who 
have large powers of control over all the 
higher institutions in the State, universities, 
colleges, technical and professional schools. 
They have the management of the State 
Library and Museum. They prepare Re- 
gents' examinations and grant Regents' cer- 
tificates, and supervise the granting of 
degrees. 

[i68] 



PUBLIC EDUCATION 

The president of the University of the 
State of New York is elected by the Regents. 
He is also the State Commissioner of Educa- 
tion, and as such is the head of the State 
Department of Education which supervises 
the free public schools and normal schools of 
the State and apportions the State school 
funds. 

The National Commissioner of Education 
is at the head of the National Bureau of 
Education in Washington. The work of this 
bureau is largely to collect and publish in- 
formation about educational conditions and 
progress in the United States. 

Agricultural Help: There are four free 
agricultural schools besides the State College 
of Agriculture in Ithaca. Much assistance is 
given by the government to the agricultural 
needs of the State. Special cotirses are pro- 
vided at many colleges for the various de- 
partments of agricultural work. Short courses 
are arranged for those who can only attend 
a few weeks, and at times in the year when 
farm work is slack. 

Farmers' Institutes are organized, at which 
experts discuss the best way of doing the 
varied work of the farm, especially how to 
increase production and to make the farm 
more profitable. 
12 [ 169 ] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

Vocational Training:^ If the public school 
is going to prepare young people for their 
work in the world, some guidance in the 
selection of an occupation, and some practi- 
cal training in a trade or profession, must be 
included in their school work. 

The great majority of children leave school 
at an early age to go to work. Without 
specialized training they have little chance 
for advancement, but fill the ranks of un- 
trained labor, to the great loss of the world 
and their own disadvantage. 

State Scholarships: Each of the 150 As- 
sembly districts of the State has five free 
scholarships valued at $400 each. The 
scholarships are awarded by the Commissioner 
of Education and the holder may attend any 
college in the State, and receive $100 for 
each of the four years he or she attends. 

Domestic Training: The majority of girls, 
even though they are wage-earners for a time, 
sooner or later marry, and have children and 
a household to take care of. In the olden 
days, when the home was a workshop, girls 

1 Under a provision of a recent Federal law, a certain 
sum of money is available for use in any State for the 
teaching of home economics, industrial training, or for 
any vocational work, provided that the State appropriates 
an equal amount for the purpose, which New York State 
has done. 

[170] 



PUBLIC EDUCATION 

were taught cooking at home; they learned 
to care for babies through taking care of the 
little ones in the family. Now they often 
leave school to go to the factory, and only 
leave the factory when they marry. They 
have no knowledge of cooking, housekeeping, 
or the care of children. Unless domestic 
economy of the most practical kind is taught 
in the school-room, there is no way they 
can be prepared for the important business 
of housekeeper and mother. If every girl 
were taught to cook and were trained in the 
proper care of an infant, it would add im- 
measurably to the sum total of the comfort 
and health of family life. It would be an 
advantage to every boy, likewise, if he were 
taught to use his hands in carpentering or 
other manual work. Whatever comes in later 
life, hands that have been trained to be use- 
ful are a great asset to any man or woman. 

Schools as Community Centers: Education 
does not stop at any age. Public free lec- 
tures, mothers' meetings, and the use of 
schools for community recreation are help- 
ing to make the school-house loo per cent, 
efficient as an educational center. The school 
plant that is closed when school is not in 
session is an extravagance which no com- 
munity can afford. 

[171] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

The demand for the use of the school-house 
for political meetings, and as polling-places 
at election-time, is growing. Outside of New 
York City school-buildings may only be so 
used by special permission of the voters. 
Since one of the purposes of education is to 
train people in citizenship, the use of the 
school-house as the center of everything that 
pertains to the people's part in government 
seems legitimate. 

Health: Compulsory education is futile 
unless at the same time the health of chil- 
dren is maintained. It is as much the duty 
of government to watch over the proper 
development of the body as of the mind, yet 
more attention is often given to decoration of 
schoolrooms than to matters of health. 

An appallingly large number of children 
have defective teeth, poor eyes, or obstructed 
breathing. Neglected teeth mean an under- 
nourished body and are a common source of 
disease. 

Periodic medical examinations are required 
by State law, and school nurses may be en- 
gaged as part of the regular school force. 
The value of the law depends on the way it is 
enforced by local school authorities, and this 
is often far from satisfactory. These pro- 
visions are found to repay their cost in the 

[172] 



PUBLIC EDUCATION 

added strength and productive powers that 
they give to the community. 

Co-operation: The greatest of all needs in 
connection with our schools is a lively inter- 
est in them on the part of women. The 
woman who cares about the future of her 
child must be interested in school meetings 
and the election of school-boards, who should 
be carefully chosen. Frequent visits to the 
school in city and country are a help and 
inspiration to both teachers and parents. 



XVII 

HEALTH AND RECREATION 

THE great majority of men and women, 
and even many children, have to work 
for a hving. To keep healthy they need 
time and opportunity for wholesome recrea- 
tion. 

Recreation is as much a necessary part of 
normal life as food or drink; a fact that has 
been partially lost sight of in this economic 
age, but throughout the world's history there 
have been frequent examples of govern- 
ments which made careful provision to supply 
necessary amusements for their citizens. In 
Greece great stadiums were erected for games 
and contests; in medieval times the knights 
held tournaments, even the churches cele- 
brated their saints* days with gay street 
processions. 

The need for recreation is particularly 
great to-day because the congestion of popu- 
lation of our cities has left few open spaces 

[174] 



HEALTH AND RECREATION 

for leisure time, and crowded living and small, 
dark rooms where all the work of the house- 
hold must be done, preclude any social life 
in the homes of many families. Many young 
girls who crave companionship and social 
intercourse with friends have to go outside 
their homes to find it. 

Crowded tenements without light or air, 
dirty streets with no provision for whole- 
some recreation, are proofs of poor govern- 
ment and inefficient democracy, no matter 
how prosperous and contented a city may 
look in its richer quarters. 

People who are obliged to live in the 
crowded districts have a lowered vitality 
and a lessened value to the world; and the 
same natural impulses which, rightly di- 
rected, lead to an orderly, useful, contented 
life, may be the causes of delinquency if 
stunted or misdirected. The slum is an 
economic crime, condoned by a public which 
pays the penalty in contamination and con- 
tagion thrust back upon itself. 

Housing: Air and sunshine are the first 
requisites of healthy life. The government 
recognizes a certain responsibility in insuring 
these necessities, and prescribes by law regu- 
lations for the construction and inspection 
of living accommodations. Many families 

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YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

cannot choose their homes, but are obliged 
to live in the kind of buildings that are to be 
found near their work. Inside rooms with- 
out windows, rooms into which a ray of sun- 
shine has never penetrated, are common in 
every city in the State. The law prohibits, 
in cities of the first class, the building of new 
tenements with inside rooms without win- 
dows, but many old ones are in existence, 
and two-family houses may still be built 
with inside rooms. In other cities there are 
practically no restrictions, except by oc- 
casional ineffectual city ordinances. Sanitary 
arrangements, and the water-supply in many 
tenement-houses, are insufficient for health 
or even decency. 

Tenement-house inspection is a part of 
city government in which women are partic- 
ularly fitted to serve. In New York City, 
there are 103,688 tenement -houses and 193 
inspectors. Only eight of these are women. 

The war has greatly intensified the hous- 
ing problem. With the tremendous increase 
in certain industries which has brought 
thousands of people to work in new factories, 
there is a corresponding demand for living 
accommodations near their work. These fac- 
tories may not be permanent, and so private 
capital hesitates to build houses near them. 

[176] 



HEALTH AND RECREATION 

The result is a terrible crowding of people 
in unsanitary and unfit buildings. The con- 
sequences of such overcrowding is seen in 
the increase of child delinquency, immorality 
and disease, an increased death-rate, and the 
inevitable unrest from such unhappiness 
which results in strikes and labor troubles. 

Recreation: The modern city so far has 
made little provision for the natural irre- 
sistible desire of youth for play. 

This is all the more dangerous because 
young men and women are being drawn in 
great numbers from the protection of the 
home, for work in factories and shops. They 
have a freedom from restraint such as they 
have never had before. They have money 
which they have earned; they are eager 
for amusement. When they come to the end 
of a day of exhausting work their love of 
pleasure will not be denied. If they are not 
given the right kind of amusement, they will 
take the wrong kind. 

Instead of recognizing this natural instinct 
for play, and providing safe channels for its 
expression, all provisions for recreation are 
usually left to commercial interests, to be 
used for their own gain, without supervision 
or control. Vice is often deliberately dis- 
guised as pleasure, and the most normal and 

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YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

healthy impulses of young men and women, 
that, properly directed, lead to happy married 
life, are frequently used as a means to their 
downfall. 

Loneliness also plays a part. Many a 
young man or girl comes to the city to find 
work. Where can they find the social inter- 
course and companionship necessary to nor- 
mal life? The homeless boy often stands 
around the edge of the dance-hall, vainly 
hoping to make the acquaintance of some 
' ' nice girl. ' ' The lonely girl, living in a cheer- 
less hall bedroom, turns to the dance-hall as 
a place to find companionship. Proper 
provision for public recreation, well super- 
vised, would help to bring this boy and girl 
together in decent, wholesome surroundings. 

The Dance: In young girls, the social in- 
stinct, the desire to meet and know other 
people, and especially those of the opposite 
sex, becomes a dominant factor between the 
ages of fifteen and twenty. 

The most natural expression of youthful 
spirits is the dance. To allow it to become 
a snare to spoil the lives of young people is 
one of the great deficiencies of city life. In 
every city dance-halls, ranging from the back 
room of a saloon to the casino or * ' gin -pal- 
ace," hold out temptations to young people. 

[178] 



HEALTH AND RECREATION 

In New York City there are over five hun- 
dred licensed dance-halls. This means, at a 
moderate estimate, one-quarter of a million 
young people every night in these public 
dance-halls, most of which are run in con- 
nection with the liquor trade. 

The obligation to regulate places of pub- 
lic amusement, and to provide good amuse- 
ment in place of bad, rests with the com- 
munity. 

The minute you begin to regulate the dance- 
hall you are interfering with many kinds of 
business; first and foremost the liquor trade 
and all the interests it involves; then, with 
the business of those whose livelihood de- 
pends upon the vile trade that is stimulated 
by the usual dance-hall; and behind these 
groups, an unknown number of perfectly 
respectable businesses whose trade is in- 
creased by the conditions which characterize 
a ''wide open" town. All these manifold in- 
terests are rooted deep in the fabric of the 
government of most of our American cities, 
and, because their connections are in so many 
instances seemingly innocent, are all the 
more difificult to defeat and dislodge. 

Playgrounds: The need of organized rec- 
reation facilities for children has become 
pressing, as congestion of population has left 

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YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

no place, not even the streets, in which they 
can play. 

There are many blocks in New York City 
where the population is greater than in any 
other place of like area in the world. Where 
can the great throng of children go to find 
innocent amusement? Where shall they go 
out of school hours? 

In 191 5 it was estimated that there were 
734,000 children between five and fourteen 
years of age who had to play away from 
home. To provide for them, the city fur- 
nished school and park playgrounds for from 
100,000 to 185,000, leaving at least half a 
million children with no provision of any 
kind for play, except the already crowded 
city streets. 

Vacation Schools: Keeping the schools 
and playgrounds open during the summer 
months takes the children away from the 
hot, crowded streets, at least part of the 
time. Like public playgrounds, the number 
of vacation schools is always dependent on 
appropriations. The makers of the city bud- 
get find a greater pressure exerted from the 
multitude of business interests that want 
consideration, than they do in support of 
appropriations for public health and comfort. 
It will be necessary for women to be as alive 

[180] 



HEALTH AND RECREATION 

in supporting such measures, as men are in 
demanding that their interests shall be con- 
sidered. Also facts must be given to prove 
that the cost of such appropriations is saved 
in the increased productive powers of a 
healthier people. It has been stated that a 
healthy laborer increases the wealth of the 
country by some $30,000 during a normal 
lifetime. If this is true, it should be merely 
intelligent business on the part of the com- 
monwealth to expend a reasonable pro rata 
of this sum, when necessary, to insure that a 
child when full grown is healthy. 

Recreation Centers have been established 
in some of the Western cities. Chicago has 
a series of small parks in various parts of 
the city, with outdoor playgrounds, and in 
each one a large building where there is a 
gymnasium, swimming-pool, and assembly- 
rooms, large and small. On a Saturday or 
Sunday afternoon, these places show many 
happy pictures of thousands of families, with 
both the old and young spending their leisure 
in a way that increases their own happiness, 
and their value to the world. 

Municipal Dance-halls have also been 
tried. In the recreation centers of Chicago 
there are dance-halls under careful super- 
vision. But whether the city provides mu- 

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YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

nicipal dance-halls or not, public dance-halls 
should be divorced from the liquor business, 
and there should be careful policing and 
supervision of private halls, and for this 
work women police officials are necessary. 

Municipal Bathing Beaches are also pos- 
sible for any community with a water-front. 
They are one of the great attractions of 
Chicago, where a large part of the lake- 
front draws hundreds of thousands of men, 
women, and children, who may easily reach 
these public beaches from any part of the 
city. The New York State law makes the 
construction of free baths obligatory in 
cities of 50,000 or more population. 

The " Movies ": Millions of children at- 
tend moving-picture theaters every day of 
the year. In New York City alone, the daily 
attendance of children is estimated at 200,000. 
The pictures impress the minds of children 
like scenes in real life. For good or for evil, 
moving pictures are the great teachers of the 
youth of to-day. 

Many of the lessons taught on the screen 
are not suitable for children. They give in- 
timate views of the underworld, of assault 
and infidelity, and barroom brawls. They 
show fair heroines and gallant heroes com- 
mitting crimes, and being pardoned and 

[182] 



HEALTH AND RECREATION 

living happily ever after. They show pic- 
ture after picture that tends to destroy moral 
standards that home and school have tried 
to teach. 

Causes for Juvenile Crime: The natural 
craving for excitement and love of adven- 
ture, with no provision for its legitimate ex- 
pression, is responsible for much of the crime 
of our cities. Some years ago, it was esti- 
mated that of the 15,000 young people under 
twenty years of age who were arrested in 
Chicago during a year, most of them had 
broken the law in their blundering efforts 
to find adventure. It is said that the ma- 
chinery of the grand juries and criminal 
courts is maintained, in a large measure, for 
the benefit of youths between the ages of 
thirteen and twenty-five. The so-called 
** gangs" of our cities are an expression of 
the recklessness and bravado, common to 
boys, which, well-directed, is of great service 
to the world, and, misdirected, is responsible 
for much misery. 

The Use of School - buildings as Social 
Centers meets a very real problem. Halls 
for dancing and for entertainments, lectures 
and debates, rooms for games, even gym- 
nasiums, could easily be brought within the 
reach of most of the people. Grown-ups, as 

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YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

well as young people, would find them of 
value. This use of the schools, outside of the 
regular school hours, has greatly increased 
in the West, and the school plant has become 
an increased factor for good in the life of the 
community. 

Rural Needs: Some of our indifference in 
regard to proper provisions for recreation 
may be due to the fact that we were so long 
a rural nation. The boy who lived on a 
farm or in a village, who had the swimming- 
hole in summer, the farm with its hay-loft, 
and in winter sledding and skating, was able 
to satisfy his love of adventure. To-day, 
even rural conditions have changed, and 
there is as much need of decent and whole- 
some recreation in the country and small 
villages as in cities. Churches are open 
only on Sunday, schools are closed two days 
in the week, the only meeting-place is the 
corner store, or the saloons, and the streets. 
The use of the school-building and grounds 
when school is not in session and on Satur- 
days and Sundays, would take many boys off 
the streets. 



XVIII 

THE CARE OF DEPENDENT AND DELINQUENT 
CHILDREN 

THE State of New York has the largest 
actual number of dependent children, 
and the largest number in proportion to 
population, of any State in the Union. 

In the early days it was the women who 
cared for the neglected children of a neigh- 
borhood, and children left homeless were 
usually taken into some one's home. This 
care has gradually gone into the hands of 
the town, the county, or the State, and has 
become a department of government. 

There are two ways of caring for home- 
less children : one is to place them in institu- 
tions, the other is to place them in private 
families. In both cases the State usually has 
to pay for their support. If the right kind 
of a home can be found for a child it seems to 
have a much better chance for a healthy, 
happy childhood, and for a useful future 
13 [ 185 ] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

when placed with a family, than when placed 
in an institution. The custom in New York 
State has been to place children in institu- 
tions. 

It is the business of each local official, 
town overseer of the poor, county superin- 
tendent of the poor, and city commissioner of 
charities, to provide for destitute children. 
In the early days he used to provide for them 
by giving what was called ''outdoor relief" 
to the parent, if either parent was living; 
if the child was homeless it was sent to the 
almshouse. For many years past, children 
between the ages of three and sixteen have 
not been allowed in almshouses, but have 
been committed to institutions. 

Besides this public care, private charitable 
agencies began to establish orphan asylums, 
and homes for friendless children. These 
institutions often developed from small be- 
ginnings into large establishments, and be- 
gan to draw on the public funds for at least 
a part of the maintenance of their inmates, 
and sometimes for their entire support. It 
was argued that if the State did not pay for 
the support of the children in the orphan 
asylum it would have to take care of them 
elsewhere. 

No Definite Authority: For many years 
[i86] 



DEPENDENT CHILDREN 

the authority between State and local gov- 
erning boards has been divided. As a con- 
sequence, inspection of children's institutions 
has amounted to very little, or has been, at 
least, ineffectual. 

This inadequate inspection, in addition to 
divided authority, encouraged neglect and 
abuse. The report of conditions in private 
institutions in New York City, made in 19 16 
as the result of an official investigation, 
showed that dirt, insufficient food, vermin, 
disease, and lack of common sanitary pre- 
cautions were common. Education was so 
much below the standard of the public 
school, with little or no vocational training, 
that children were discharged with no prep- 
aration for earning a living. There was 
not only an utter absence of home atmos- 
phere, but methods and restrictions were 
used like a prison or reformatory. So little 
care was given when the children left the 
institution, that they often went out entirely 
friendless, with no one to call upon for council 
or advice, and utterly unprepared for inde- 
pendent life. 

These conditions were allowed to exist, 
partly because of the divided authority and 
responsibility, largely because those in au- 
thority were not deeply interested. As the 

[187] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

report said, *'the committing authorities have 
not looked upon the problem as of sufficient 
moment to make it any part of their business 
to formulate and promulgate any competent 
standard to govern the service maintained in 
children's institutions." 

New York City has tried the experiment of 
** boarding out" all dependent children be- 
tween two and seven years of age, taking care 
to place Catholic children in Catholic homes, 
Jewish children in Jewish homes, and so 
forth. In some respects, this is a better 
method than committing children to institu- 
tions, but it is only successful if the child is 
carefully placed, and its welfare watched by 
appointed visitors. 

In New York State, 1900-19 13, the aver- 
age infant mortality-rate of children under 
two years of age was 86.4 per 1,000, while 
the death-rate in eleven large infant asylums 
was 422.5 per 1,000. That is, under the 
care of the mother, even including the igno- 
rant mother, only one-fifth as many babies 
died as when the children were cared for by 
the State. 

Experience shows that children are not 
only safer and healthier with their own 
mothers than in institutions, but that they 
have a better chance with foster mothers 

[188] 



DEPENDENT CHILDREN 

than in asylums. In 19 14, the New York 
City Health Department, as an experiment, 
placed seventy-five infants to board with 
foster mothers, with the resiilt that the in- 
fant death-rate dropped forty-eight per 
cent. 

Boards of Child Welfare: In 191 5, the 
Legislature authorized the appointment of 
boards of child welfare in each county. 
These boards were to investigate needy cases 
and had the power to grant an allowance to 
a destitute mother for the care of her chil- 
dren.^ This work is dependent on the ap- 
propriations granted by the county. County 
authorities are slow to act in matters that 
require appropriations. At the end of the 
first year, fifty-seven counties had organized 
boards, but only thirty-four had made ap- 
propriations; 6,014 children had been kept 
from asylums and 1,969 homes had been 
saved from being broken up. In New York 
City, the number of children in institutions 
has decreased 3,000 since the Child Welfare 
Board began its work. In 191 7 New York 
City appropriated $1,250,000 for widowed 
mothers. The average monthly allowance, the 
first year of the Welfare Board's work, for 

1 Unfortunately, the law expressly excludes in its prg- 
visions for relief families with alien fathers. 

[1891 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

each child under sixteen, was $7.99, which is 
$3 less than it would have cost to keep the 
child in an institution. 

It is now admitted that everything possible 
should be done to prevent a home from being 
broken up by poverty; that if the mother 
is living, and is a fit person to bring up her 
children, it should be made possible for her 
to keep them. That the mother is usually 
a fit person to bring up her child, is proved by 
the experience of the Board of Child Welfare 
of New York City, which examined four 
thousand cases of mothers who applied for 
pensions, and found only in fourteen cases 
that the mother was not to be so trusted. 

In many of the Western States the wid- 
owed mothers' compensation, or pension laws, 
have been extended to cover children of de- 
linquent, injured, or crippled fathers, and 
sometimes even of fathers imprisoned in 
penal institutions. 

Some States also have other provisions 
which reduce the number of dependent chil- 
dren. In Washington a man who deserts his 
family is put to work and his wages are paid 
to his wife and children. This seems more 
sensible than the law which imprisons the 
man, and lets the State support him, while 
his wife has to support herself and children. 

[ 190] 



DELINQUENT CHILDREN 

In Kansas, the wages of a prisoner are given 
to his family. In California and Illinois, 
the father must help support the illegitimate 
child. 

The care of dependent children is work 
for which women are especially fitted by 
both training and inclination. In Colorado, 
the State Home for Dependent Children 
must have two women on its board of five 
members. In the State Industrial Home for 
Girls, three of the five members of the board 
must be women. 

The Problem of the Delinquent Child is 
one that needs the greatest care and expert 
attention. If the dependent child is an 
appealing figure, the delinquent child is an 
indictment of a community. He is usually 
the product of neglect, of overcrowding, of 
bad living conditions, and of defects in the 
educational system. 

To treat the child offender as if he were 
grown up and responsible, and to punish him 
in the same way as an adult, is to make a 
criminal of him. The manner in which his 
first offense against the law is handled, often 
determines the future of such a child. 

Children's Courts: It used to be common 
for children of all ages to be detained with 
older, hardened criminals indiscriminately, 

1 191] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

exposed to contamination and disease, and 
to try them in an open court-room with all 
other cases. The modern policy is to try 
all cases against children, with the exception 
of murder, in special courts. 

The entire policy of a children's court is 
based on prevention instead of punishment, 
to make friends with a delinquent child, to 
show him the danger ahead of him, to watch 
over him like an older, wiser friend, and to 
help him to keep straight. The terror and 
disgrace of an open court-room are replaced 
by a quiet, friendly talk in the judge's room. 

A large number of all children who are 
arrested are ungovernable or disorderly, chil- 
dren who have run away from home, or who 
are associating with dissolute or vicious per- 
sons. Another large class comes into the 
courts because of improper guardianship; 
neglected children, or those exposed to physi- 
cal or moral danger. These cases are not 
classed technically as delinquents, but are 
tried by what are known as special proceed- 
ings. 

The total number of children arraigned in 
the children's courts of New York City in 
19 1 6 for delinquency was: boys, 5,929; 
girls, 150; in special proceedings, boys, 
3,893; girls, 2,972, a total of 12,944. The 

[192] 



DELINQUENT CHILDREN 

largest percentage of cases for any offense 
for boys was petty larceny, and for girls was 
sex offenses and incorrigibility. 

In 191 6 the Police Department of New 
York City made in its report an analysis of 
juvenile arrests, showing the nature of the 
offense, the age, sex, nativity, occupation, 
and employment of the child. The largest 
number of arrests were for offenses against 
property. Practically half of all the de- 
linquents were native-born children of for- 
eign-born parents. 

The attitude of the police force of New 
York City during the last few years has 
been helpful in handling the problem of 
juvenile delinquency. The police are now 
instructed to try to prevent small infringe- 
ments of the law by children, and many 
trivial offenses are adjusted out of court. 

A considerable proportion of the children 
who come repeatedly into the children's 
courts are feeble-minded. During 191 7, the 
children's court of New York City, for the 
first time, had a clinic attached to the court, 
where children suspected of being mentally 
deficient could be examined. There is still, 
however, no place where they can be com- 
mitted temporarily for observation, and there 
is great need of a graded institution that will 

[193I 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

provide for the treatment and care of the 
different classes of mentally deficient chil- 
dren. 

The system of probation for child offend- 
ers is of the greatest possible assistance in 
reclaiming the child; it also decreases the 
number of children who are committed to 
institutions, thus saving the State money. 
To make probation effective, children must 
be visited frequently in their homes, and 
be kept on probation long enough to make 
probable a complete reformation. Women, 
and not men, should be appointed as proba- 
tion officers for delinquent girls, but, as the 
appointments are often political, men are 
given the preference, and are even put in 
charge of girls. 

The present Children's Court in Greater 
New York dates from 191 5, and under the 
presiding justice of the court has been 
brought to a high state of intelligent and 
sympathetic handling. The city of Buffalo 
also makes special provision for delinquent 
children. In most of the cities of the State, 
the judges of the court of special sessions 
set certain days for children's cases. 

Among the improvements needed in the 
New York State law is a provision to give 
the children's court jurisdiction over chil- 

[194I 



DELINQUENT CHILDREN 

dren of sixteen and seventeen years of age. 
This is especially needed in cases of wayward 
girls. In Colorado the juvenile court handles 
cases of offenders under eighteen. Also, it is 
a criminal offense in Colorado to contribute 
to the delinquency of a child, and the chil- 
dren's court has jurisdiction over adults con- 
tributing to such delinquency. This is a 
provision needed in the New York State law. 
Colorado also has a law prohibiting the pub- 
lication of the name or picture of a girl under 
eighteen in a case of delinquency. This is im- 
portant, as procurers and other men who have 
been the cause of a girl's delinquency often 
go free, because the girl and her family wish 
to avoid publicity. 

The children's courts in New York State 
should also have the power to appoint legal 
guardians for children in case of need. 

To be a judge of a juvenile court requires 
exceptional qualifications: quick sympathy, 
and intelligent understanding of the many 
causes which contribute to child delinquency. 

A large part of the problem comes back 
to the environment of the child, to crowded 
living conditions, deficient education, lack 
of vocational training, and absence of op- 
portunities for recreation. The pitiful striv- 
ing of children for pleasure and play, and the 

[195] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

inadequate provisions of our cities to meet 
this need, are often responsible for the first 
delinquent step. Many improvements in 
this direction, as well as improvements in 
the law, are needed to bring the protection 
that New York State gives its children up 
to the level of the best found in other States. 



XIX 

CHILD WAGE-EARNERS 

CHILDREN are the most important assets 
of a nation. 
While every one, individually, would admit 
this statement, it is not easy to persuade 
the government that the protection and de- 
velopment of child life cannot be left safely 
to private initiative, any more than can animal 
or plant life; that, in addition to the protec- 
tion of the individual family, children need 
the fostering care of the organized govern- 
ment. For many years, the government, 
both State and National, has dealt generous- 
ly with the agricultural interests of the 
country. When disease has broken out 
among either animals or plants, it has had 
its experts ready to send out at a moment's 
notice to any part of the country. It has 
spent vast sums of money to investigate 
and eradicate boll- weevil in cotton, and 
hoof-and-mouth disease among cattle, and 

[197] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

to develop a better strain in many animals 
and plants, but it is only very recently that 
it has been willing to investigate the needs 
of the children of the nation. 

The appropriations of the Federal govern- 
ment for animal life, in 191 5, were over 
$5,000,000; for child life, $164,000. In 191 7, 
an additional appropriation of $150,000 
was made for the enforcement of the Federal 
Child Labor Law. 

Federal Child Labor Law: For fourteen 
years, the National Child Labor Committee 
has tried to get laws passed which would 
limit the hours of work for children, the 
kind of work they might do, and the age at 
which they might be put to work. Dis- 
couraged by the State by State method, the 
committee inaugurated a campaign for a 
Federal child labor law, and after three years 
of effort succeeded in getting it passed. 

Men have an eight-hour day in many 
States. Women have an eight-hour day in 
a few States. Until the Federal bill was 
passed, children of tender years in a num- 
ber of States could be employed almost un- 
limited hours and all night. 

At the time the bill was passed three 
States permitted children under fourteen to 
work ten and eleven hours a day, and two 

[198] 



CHILD WAGE-EARNERS 

States permitted them to work at night. 
Nineteen mining States permitted children 
under sixteen to work in mines. 

Nine States permitted children under six- 
teen to do night work. In three Southern 
States, one-fifth of all the cotton-mill work- 
ers, in 1 9 13, were children less than sixteen 
years of age. 

The Federal Child Labor Bill, which went 
mto effect September i, 191 7, was declared 
unconstitutional by a United States District 
Court in North Carolina, and is now before 
the Supreme Court of the United States. 
This law prohibits the interstate commerce 
of articles which children have helped to 
make. It does not control the labor of chil- 
dren in local occupations. Street trades, 
messenger service, agricultural work, and 
housework are not touched by it. This law 
is a great step in advance for the protection 
of children, but there are still 1,859,000 chil- 
dren, from ten to sixteen years old, at work 
in the United States whom the Federal law 
does not touch. 

New York State Laws: For many years 
New York State has been building up a 
code of protection for the children of the 
State. Children under sixteen years of age 
are not permitted to work unless they have 

[ 199 ] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

a special permit, and they must have com- 
pleted the sixth grade in school. A physical 
examination of the child is required to see 
that he is able to stand the strain of the 
industry in which he is about to engage, and 
proof of age is required. To sell newspapers, 
boys from twelve to fourteen must have a 
permit and a badge. Boys of fourteen and 
fifteen are required to have badges if they 
have a prescribed route for the delivery of 
newspapers, but not if they are selling for 
themselves. Children under sixteen are not 
allowed to work more than eight hours a 
day. To enforce these laws adequately, 
many inspectors are needed and unceasing 
vigilance on the part of the public. While 
the provisions of the law concerning news- 
boys are very clear, and are generally obeyed 
in New York City, they are seldom enforced 
elsewhere in the State. 

To allow children to enter the industrial 
world at an early age, without preparation, 
and with no guidance as to the sort of work 
for which they are best fitted, is unfair to 
them. The boy or girl who gets a job at 
fourteen, without any vocational training, is 
apt to remain an unskilled worker all his or 
her life. The range of occupations open to 
such children is small. The largest number 

[ 2QO ] 



CHILD WAGE-EARNERS 

of boys who go to work at an early age be- 
come delivery boys, errand or wagon boys, 
or newsboys. There is little chance among 
these employments for real training or for 
any future advancement. 

A careful study, by the National Child 
Labor Committee, of certain cases brought 
into the Children's Court, has established 
the fact that a large proportion of the boys 
and girls who come into the court come 
from the ranks of child workers. This in- 
vestigation has also proved the need of ade- 
quate vocational guidance. The present 
school course gives little help in this direc- 
tion to children who are leaving school at 
fourteen or fifteen, and parents are often 
as ignorant of industrial conditions as the 
children. After a few years in an occupa- 
tion that offers no opportunity for develop- 
ment, the boy or girl who went to work so 
young is often left stranded, not only un- 
trained, but demoralized. 

There is need also of making parents under- 
stand that better opportunities are open to 
children who have had education beyond the 
elementary grades. 

Street Trades of all kinds are regarded by 
social experts as unsafe for children. Some 
authorities recommend the absolute prohibi- 
14 [ 201 ] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

tion of all street trading for boys under 
seventeen. These trades, including selling 
newspapers, appeal to boys because they 
like the excitement of street life, and the 
spending-money which they give them. 

A judge of the Detroit Juvenile Court 
says, "At least fifty per cent, of the boys 
brought into the juvenile court are newsboys." 
An old newsboy, when asked what night work 
on the streets had done for him, said: ''When 
I was a kid, it wasn't Hke it is now. They 
didn't have no midnight edition — I always 
had to be home by eight o'clock. When I 
got to selling at night I started in high 
school, but when it came time for the first 
examination, I said, 'Oh, I'll just quit. I'd 
rather be out on the streets, anyway.'" In 
Baltimore it is estimated that 45 per cent, 
of all the children in the near-by reform school 
have been street workers. 

Investigations have proved the theory is 
false that a child is usually put to work '* to 
support a widowed mother." More often 
the child in a street trade is found to come 
from a home where there is no need of his 
work, and in these trades the earnings of 
children are very small. In a recent in- 
vestigation, in Seattle, the earnings of news- 
boys were found in 46 per cent, of the cases 

[ 202 ] 



CHILD WAGE-EARNERS 

of the elementary school paper-sellers to be 
less than $5 a month. 

The night messenger service is known to 
be a demoralizing occupation, unfit for any- 
small boy, and in New York it is prohibited 
to all boys under twenty-one. The same 
protection of the law is now needed for girls. 

Many parents do not realize the serious 
results of letting their children go to work 
too young, or the bad effects of over-work 
on them. The tendency of over-fatigue is 
to break down the moral resistance. The 
release from supervision which is brought 
about by their wage-earning, and the dan- 
ger of their having money of their own to 
spend, added to the interruption of their 
education, cannot help but have a demoral- 
izing effect on them. 

Rural Child Workers are quite as com- 
mon as city workers, but they are not so 
often wage-earners. Their labor is usually 
taken by parents as a matter of course, and 
they are not paid. Farming and housework 
are two occupations which engage many chil- 
dren, and there is almost a complete absence 
of laws regulating them. 

A distinction should be made between the 
farmer lad who does "chores" night and 
morning, and the boy who is kept out of 

[203] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

school most of the year to be a farm-hand; 
and between the girl who helps her mother 
out of school hours, and the girl who is kept at 
work in acanning-factory, and goes from one 
to another as fruits and vegetables ripen ; but 
neither the chores nor the housework should 
be allowed to interfere with the regularity 
of school attendance. The boy who is kept 
at farm labor, without education, and the 
girl who is kept at work in the canning in- 
dustry at the expense of her schooling, are 
as much in the ranks of child laborers as the 
cotton-mill workers, and they suffer in the 
same way from lack of training for a useful 
future. 

Experiments have been made in combining 
the work that the boy does night and morn- 
ing on the farm, with the school work. Under 
proper guidance, the chores that the boy 
has to do at home can be made a means of 
education. For example : a pupil who assists 
at home in the milking might be required to 
keep a daily record of each cow, with the 
fluctuations in the yield of milk, due to 
weather and food. This combining of the 
necessary home work with the instruction of 
the school has been made a success in some 
of the Western States, where county superin- 
tendents supervise the home-school work and 

[204] 



CHILD WAGE-EARNERS 

make it of the greatest possible educational 
value. 

Rural school terms are usually shorter than 
city terms, and irregular attendance is more 
frequent. Only 68 per cent, of the pupils 
enrolled in rural schools attend daily, while 
in cities the percentage is 80. The absences 
of girls are caused largely by housework. 

The results of child labor in the country 
are seen in the high percentage of rejections 
from military service on accoimt of physical 
defects in men from rural districts, and the 
larger percentage of illiteracy in country 
communities compared with that in cities. 
Better and more adequate education for the 
thousands of children on the farms of the 
State is one of our immediate needs. 

It is the right of every child to be given 
enough education to give him a good start 
in life. The child-labor problem is largely a 
school problem. Keep the children in school, 
and there will be no child labor. 

War and Children: The war has brought 
a new demand for the labor of children, and 
new evidence of the serious consequences of 
using this labor. In England and France, 
juvenile delinquency due to the breaking 
down of educational facilities, and the ex- 
ploitation of children in shops and factories, 

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YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

has increased to a point where both nations 
are aroused by a new national danger. To 
meet the sudden great need for munitions, 
and the speeding up of all industry, children 
of all ages, and women of all classes, went 
into the factories. In England, it is esti- 
mated that 200,000 children from eleven to 
thirteen years of age left school to go to 
work. Abnormally high wages were paid 
them. With fathers at the front and mothers 
away from home in munition factories, these 
children roamed the streets after their work 
was done, with pockets filled with money to 
spend, and no one to exercise a restraining 
hand. 

Streets are unlighted, the police force has 
been decreased, churches, schools, and settle- 
ment work are interrupted. Is it any won- 
der that since the war began juvenile de- 
linquency has increased 46 per cent, in 
Edinburgh, 56 per cent, in Manchester, and 
thefts 50 per cent. ? 

The same demand for child labor has be- 
gun to be manifest in this country. The 
United States is being called on to feed the 
world, and to make supplies of all kinds for 
our allies, besides the tremendous need of 
supplies for our own armies. Millions of 
men are being drawn from the ranks of pro- 

l 206 ] 



CHILD WAGE-EARNERS 

ducers, and have become consumers. The 
world is consuming and destroying on a 
scale never known before in history. The 
demand for more and more labor is becoming 
ever more insistent. 

In spite of the warnings which have come 
to us from England and France, of the neces- 
sity of guarding against the exploitation of 
our children during the war, New York State 
was one of the first to try to break down the 
restrictions built up during many years of 
the past with such infinite labor. 

The Brown bills, which passed the Legis- 
lature last winter, were a frank attempt to 
utilize the labor of children. They made it 
possible, at the discretion of the State Labor 
Commission, to abrogate every law that has 
been passed in New York State to safeguard 
its children. One bill would have made it 
possible to utilize the labor of children un- 
limited hours, seven days in the week, in- 
cluding night labor. This was vetoed by 
the Governor. The other, which makes pos- 
sible the suspension of the compulsory edu- 
cation law, in order that children may work 
on the farms, has become a law. Other at- 
tempts will undoubtedly be made to exploit 
children. 

It will require unceasing vigilance on the 
[207] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

part of the people of the State to see that 
measures detrimental to children shall not 
be successful. Attempts are being made to 
remove the limit of hours, and to abolish 
the requirement that children between four- 
teen and sixteen shall have working papers. 
Such measures mean that the physical exami- 
nation now required would not be made, and 
that the necessity of furnishing proof of the 
age of the applicant would be eliminated. 
The first would permit weak, sickly children 
to go to work in the factories, and the second 
would encourage the employment of children 
under fourteen. 

The need for increased labor is a real one, 
and as long as the war lasts it will continue 
to grow. But the nation that exploits its chil- 
dren while at war is bleeding at both ends. 
It is the province of women to watch over 
and guard all children. Now that they have 
the vote, the responsibility has been put 
directly on them, and they have the power 
to meet it. 

Because of the tremendous cost of war in 
human life itself, it becomes doubly impor- 
tant to safeguard human life at its source, 
and that is our job. 

Note. — The material used in this chapter is largely taken 
from publications of the National Child Labor Committee. 

[208] 



XX 

PUBLIC CHARITIES 

THE public institutions of the State are 
grouped under three heads: the State 
Commission in Lunacy, the Prison Com- 
mission, and the State Board of Charities. 

The State Board of Charities, which has 
general supervision of the charitable insti- 
tutions of the State, consists of twelve mem- 
bers, of whom nine must be appointed as 
commissioners from the nine judicial dis- 
tricts of the State, and three from New York 
City. The law prescribes otherwise no quali- 
fications for membership on this board. (A 
recent innovation has been made in the ap- 
pointment of a woman on the board.) The 
commissioners serve without salary, but 
each one is paid his expenses and $io for 
each day's attendance at meetings, not to 
exceed $500 a year. 

Partly State, Partly Private: Some chari- 
table institutions in the State are wholly 

[209] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

controlled by the State or one of its sub- 
divisions; others are controlled by private 
corporations, but are maintained either whol- 
ly, or in part, by State funds. There are over 
six hundred and forty charitable institutions 
which receive money from the State. There 
are still other institutions which are entirely 
supported by private funds. The State 
Board of Charities has not the authority at 
present to inspect organized charities which 
do not receive public money, so there are 
many institutions which are without the 
protection of State inspection, and the total 
amount of dependency in the State is not 
known officially. 

Duties of the Board: Besides its duties 
of inspection and general supervision of 
charitable institutions, the board has the 
control of the incorporation of charitable in- 
stitutions, and must approve of an applica- 
tion for a certificate of incorporation before 
it can be granted. It also issues licenses for 
medical dispensaries, and makes rules and 
regulations under which they must work. 

The Powers of the Board Are Limited, as 
the carrying out of its recommendations 
often depends on action by the State Legis- 
lature, and especially on the amount of the 
appropriations granted for the work. The 

[210] 



PUBLIC CHARITIES 

powers originally given the board have also 
been greatly impaired by the action of the 
Legislature from time to time in creating 
other agencies, which have resulted in a 
duplication of work and an overlapping of 
authority. There is much complaint of in- 
stitutions being overrun by official visitors, 
and inspectors with conflicting authority, 
who are said to interfere with the work of the 
institutions without accomplishing adequate 
results. 

The powers of the board have been es- 
pecially curtailed since the office of Fiscal 
Supervisor of State Charities was created in 
1902. When decisions are to be made con- 
cerning appropriations for State charities, in 
making up the legislative budget, the Fiscal 
Supervisor is consulted to the exclusion of 
the State Board. In reality the Fiscal 
Supervisor has far greater powers than the 
State Board of Charities, as no appropriations 
can be made unless approved by him. His 
effort is to keep down appropriations wher- 
ever possible, and he does not come in 
direct personal touch with the needs of the 
work. 

The power to fix salaries and establish posi- 
tions has been given to the Salary Classifica- 
tion Commission, and to locate new buildings 

[211] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

to the Commission on Sites ^ Grounds, and 
Buildings. 

The general dissatisfaction with the con- 
fused and conflicting authority, which had 
come with different legislative enactments, led 
to the appointment in 191 6, of a commissioner 
to investigate State charities and to report 
to the Governor, with recommendations of 
changes he deemed advisable. 

Among the changes recommended were: 

(i) That instead of an unpaid board of 
twelve members, appointed from the judicial 
districts, there should be a board of nine, 
of whom one should be a woman ; three mem- 
bers should be paid and should give all their 
time to the work, one of the three to be 
president of the board, one the chairman of 
a bureau for mental deficiency, and the 
third, chairman of a bureau for dependent 
children; the six unpaid members were to 
be specialists in the special classes of work 
which is supervised by the board. 

The present State Board of Charities ob- 
jects to this change on the ground that a 
board so organized would become political. 
They also feel that the appointments should 
continue to be made from the judicial districts, 
in order that every part of the State should 
have a resident member of the State Board. 

[212] 



PUBLIC CHARITIES 

The report further recommended: (2) 
Prompt provision for defective delinquents; 
(3) a careful revision of the State charities 
and poor law; (4) that power should be given 
the State Board to inspect private charitable 
institutions; (5) the creation of a new bureau 
for dependent children; (6) the abolition of 
the office of Fiscal Supervisor of Charities, 
in order that recommendations for appropria- 
tions should come directly from the State 
Board of Charities; (7) the abolition of other 
conflicting authorities, and restoring the au- 
thority of the State Board. 

None of these recommendations have been 
acted upon as yet. 

The State institutions that are under the 
State are the following: State Agricultural 
and Industrial School, Industry; Syracuse 
State Institution for Feeble-minded Chil- 
dren, Syracuse; New York State School for 
the Blind, Batavia; Thomas Indian School, 
Iroquois ; State Custodial Asylum for Feeble- 
minded Women, Newark; New York State 
Soldiers' and Sailors' Home, Bath; New York 
State Training School for Girls, Hudson; 
Western House of Refuge for Women, Al- 
bion; New York State Reformatory for 
Women, Bedford Hills; Rome Custodial 
State Asylum, Rome; Craig Colony for 

[213] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

Epileptics, Sonyea; New York State Wom- 
an's Relief Corps Home, Oxford; New York 
State Hospital for the Care of Crippled and 
Deformed Children, West Haverstraw; New 
York State Hospital for the Treatment of 
Incipient Pulmonary Tuberculosis, Ray- 
brook; New York State Training School for 
Boys, established by law in 1904, not yet 
ready to receive inmates ; Letch worth Village 
for Feeble-minded, Rockland County; and 
authorized in 1911-12, but not yet open: 
The State Industrial Farm Colony, Green 
Haven; and the State Reformatory for Mis- 
demeanants. 

Private institutions supported mainly by 
State appropriations are: New York Insti- 
tution for the Instruction of Deaf and Dumb ; 
New York Society for the Reformation of 
Juvenile Delinquents in the City of New 
York; New York Institute for the Educa- 
tion of the Blind; Institutions for Deaf 
Mutes in New York City, Buffalo, West- 
chester, Rome, Rochester; Malone and Al- 
bany Home Schools for the Oral Instruction 
of the Deaf. 

County and City Institutions: County 
and city almshouses are under the super- 
vision of the State Board of Charities, and 
also the recently established county sana- 

[214] 



PUBLIC CHARITIES 

toria for tuberculosis, of which there are about 
thirty. The small number of patients in 
these county hospitals for tuberculosis makes 
it impossible for some of them to give as 
expert and efficient care as a larger and 
better equipped hospital might offer.* 

The Department of State and Alien Poor, 
of the State Board of Charities, has the super- 
vision of the State poor, and of alien and In- 
dian dependents. It also has the power to 
transfer aliens, or non-residents, who have 
become public charges, to their home county 
or State, or, in co-operation with the United 
States Immigration authorities, to return 
them to their home countries. This depart- 
ment has saved the State large sums of 
money. 

In 1916, 810 persons were returned to their 
homes in other States or countries, by this 
department, of whom 250 were alien poor. 

Local Boards of Managers: Each State 
charitable and reformatory institution is ad- 
ministered and controlled by a board of 
local managers, appointed by the Governor 
and confirmed by the Senate. These boards 
usually consist of seven persons who serve 

* It is hoped that when the Boards of Managers for 
these county tuberculosis hospitals are appointed, local 
women will be placed on them. 

[215] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

without pay, for their expenses only. There 
are some women on these local boards, but 
not nearly as many as there might be, con- 
sidering the number of institutions which 
have women in their charge. 

The superintendents of State institutions 
are all carefully selected from the civil 
service lists. 

The employees of these institutions form 
a difficult problem. The old conception of 
an attendant for a public institution was 
exceedingly low; the standard is still far 
from good. The salaries paid are insufficient 
to attract intelligent service. 

The Department of Inspection: There are 
over six hundred institutions in the State 
which come under the Department of In- 
spection. To handle them there are eight 
inspectors, and one superintendent of in- 
spection. 

Almshouses are inspected and graded in 
three classes. Of the counties that were re- 
ported in 191 7 as first class in both adminis- 
tration and plant are : Allegany, Chautauqua, 
Genesee, Jefferson, Lewis, Monroe, Niagara, 
Saratoga, Schenectady, and Wayne counties. 
Those second class in both administration 
and plant were: Dutchess, Herkimer, Madi- 
son, Rockland, Schoharie, and Ulster coun- 

[216] 



PUBLIC CHARITIES 

ties. The only one third class in both 
plant and administration was in Sullivan 
County. 

Provision for the Feeble-minded is the great- 
est present need of the charities of the State. 
Mental defectives are at large all over the 
State, and they are found in all institutions. 
They are a source of trouble in the public 
schools, and are a constant danger to the 
State. 

It is estimated that there are not less than 
30,000 of these unfortunates. The State in- 
stitutions have room for about 5,700, but 
they are actually caring for 6,700. For 
years efforts have been made to get the 
Legislature to make adequate provision for 
their segregation. The report of one in- 
stitution for feeble-minded women says, 
''nine of the women admitted were married 
and had given birth to thirty-seven chil- 
dren ; twenty-six of those admitted had borne 
forty-three illegitimate children; making a 
total of eighty children bom to those unfor- 
tunate women." 

Letchworth Village, in Rockland County, 
a plot of 2,000 acres, was planned to provide 
for 2,500 to 3,000 feeble-minded. It was 
established in 1907, and in 1916 still had a 
capacity of only 330. 
15 [217] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

The failure of the State to complete a 
project it had undertaken is shown also in 
the New York State Training School for 
Boys at Yorktown Heights. This was plan- 
ned to be a reformatory of the modern cot- 
tage type to take the place of the very old 
one on Randall's Island, and was greatly 
needed for delinquent boys. After twelve 
years of delay, and after $800,000 had been 
appropriated by the State and most of it 
expended, this project has been abandoned. 
The reason given for the final decision to 
abandon the site, was the possible contamina- 
tion of the Croton water supply by the in- 
stitution. With modern methods of sewage 
disposal it seems as if it would have been 
possible to guard against this danger. It 
would have been easier to insure proper 
treatment of the sewage from such an in- 
stitution than from the towns and villages 
which exist in the Croton watershed. The 
State Board of Charities recommends now an 
appropriation of $150,000 for a new site and 
plans. 

Recommendations of the State Board: 
Intelligent handling of the problem of de- 
pendency must deal with causes. Probably 
the major part could be done away with if 
the State would adopt adequate preventive 

[218I 



PUBLIC CHARITIES 

measures. The board recommends as an aid 
to this end: (i) Industrial insurance; (2) 
better housing, including the destruction of 
the worst congested areas in cities, and the 
prevention of further congestion; (3) voca- 
tional training for children; (4) improved 
labor laws, restricting the hours of labor, 
and compensation for accidents to em- 
ployees; (5) adequate pensions to widowed 
mothers. 

They also recommend: That further pro- 
vision be made for tuberculosis, which the 
records of the State Health Department show 
is increasing; that the office of County 
Superintendent of the Poor should be ap- 
pointive and be included in the Civil Service. 
The frequent changing of poor-law officials, 
and their lack of knowledge of the subject, 
are drawbacks in the discharge of their 
duties. 

The State Commission in Lunacy has 
charge of the hospitals for the insane. All 
the insane come under the direct charge of 
the State. This is a salaried commission 
consisting of three members. There are 
local boards of managers for these insane 
asylums as for the other charitable insti- 
tutions, and a majority of the members of 
these local boards are required to visit the 

[219] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

hospitals at least once a month for inspec- 
tion.^ 

The State Prison Commission, like the 
State Board of Charities, is an unpaid board, 
but the Superintendent of Prisons is a State 
official with a salary. 

There has been for years a provision of the 
State law which gives one scale of salaries 
for men employed in these institutions and 
a lower one for women. 



Pay of Stenographers (male) $70-80 a month 

(female).... 50-68 

Chief Supervisors (male) 55~68 " 

(female) 50-62 



Since women have been given the vote, it 
is probable that this law will be changed and 
equal pay given for equal work. 

^ The number of insane in the State is increasing far 
more rapidly than the provision which is being made for 
them. The last report of the State Hospital Commission 
shows that in hospitals for the insane, planned to accom- 
modate 27,890 patients, there were in June, 1916, 33,873 
patients, an overcrowding of 21.5 per cent. The State 
Hospital Commission urgently requests a bond issue to 
provide immediately for the construction of new buildings. 



XXI 

THE PROTECTION OF WORKING-WOMEN 

THE war has brought a revolution in 
woman's work. 

Because of the increased demand for labor, 
trades and all kinds of emplo3mient that have 
been considered exclusively the province of 
men, have been opened to women. The uni- 
versal verdict is that they have everywhere 
made good. Work that demands the great- 
est exactness and care, specialized technical 
operations that have been supposed to re- 
quire a man's brain, have been done by them 
quite as well as by men. But their employ- 
ment in many of the new industries has 
brought new industrial problems, and they 
have gone into many new occupations which 
are not included in the protection extended 
by existing labor laws. 

Even before the war New York State was 
the greatest industrial State in the Union. 
More women were at work here than in any 

[221] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

other State, and more women were at work 
in New York City than in any entire State 
except Pennsylvania. 

There were 248 separate manufacturing 
industries in this State, and women worked 
in all trades in which over 1,000 workers 
were employed, except in the manufacture 
of bricks, tiles, fertilizers, and ice. 

They were doing everything, from making 
cores in foundries, sausages in packing- 
houses, pickles and candies, to working in 
human hair, chemicals, and rags. 

Women have always done their share of 
the world's work, but in the past their labor 
was in the home. During the early years of 
our nation there were very few women who 
did not work or supervise work, but they 
did this in their homes for their homes, and 
they were not paid in money. 

When the cotton-gin was invented and the 
use of steam was discovered, it was the dream 
of the inventors that their machines should 
be really labor-saving, and that people would 
have leisure for the development of the wider 
and deeper things of life. This became true 
for some people, and to-day there are many 
women of comparative leisure who can do 
as they please with their time. But on the 
other hand, undreamed-of evils and dangers 

[222] 



THE PROTECTION OF WORKING-WOMEN 

have come to women who toil, and necessity 
compels women by the millions to seek work 
in the industrial worid. In spite of the fact 
that the wages of women have been appall- 
ingly low, the woman who must earn money 
in order to live has had to find work outside 
of her own home. 

Number of Women Wage-earners: In 1910, 
according to the census, there were in New 
York State 3,291,714 women over fifteen 
years of age; only 1,793,558 were mar- 
ried, and 1,498,156 were unmarried or wid- 
owed; 983,686 of these had to work in order 
to live, or to support some members of their 
families. This number did not include the 
great mass of women who work in their 
homes. 

Clothing Manufacturers: Before the United 
States entered the war, 184,691 women were 
working in New York State making every 
conceivable garment for people to wear. The 
work is subdivided so that one worker does 
one thing all day long. There are sixty-five 
operations in the making of trousers. Twenty 
to sixty different operations take place in the 
making of men's shirts. Women tuck or hem 
materials for women's wear hour by hour, 
driven by the juggernaut electric machine 
which knows no fatigue and needs no rest. 

[223] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

Laundries: Ten thousand women worked 
in laundries in this State, where the washing 
and ironing are done usually by machines. 
They stand and push down a treadle of the 
ironing-machine with their feet, making as 
many as sixty -three to eighty -one foot 
pressures a minute. In this action a bad 
twist of the body is necessary, which may 
result in permanent injury. Clouds of steam 
rise from the mangles, and when no exhaust 
hoods are used, the room is filled with steam. 
Tuberculosis is a common disease among 
laundry workers. Unprotected machinery is 
a constant danger. 

Restaurant Workers: There were fifteen 
thousand restaurant workers, waitresses, 
cooks, kitchen girls, and pantry hands. 
Until 191 7, they were without any protection 
by law. They worked any number of hours, 
and seven days a week. They now come 
under the fifty-four-hour law, in first and 
second class cities, but the law is difficult to 
enforce. They often walk five miles a day 
carrying heavy trays; and varicose veins, 
fiat feet, and pelvic disorders are common. 

Textile Operators: In New York State 
35,168 women worked in textile-mills making 
silks, woolens, cottons, carpets, knit under- 
wear, etc. The din of machinery is deafen- 

[224] 



THE PROTECTION OF WORKING-WOMEN 

ing in many of these factories, and often the 
machinery is so closely placed that there is 
difficulty in passing without danger of skirts 
catching. 

The whole development of machinery in 
industry has been worked out for the purpose 
of extending trade and output, without con- 
sideration of the human factor involved. 
Machines have been watched so they did not 
wear out or break, and they have been care- 
fully repaired. Girls and women, the hu- 
man factor, have been discarded if they 
wore out; they are of less worth to the em- 
ployer and can be easily replaced without 
cost to him. But the cost to the State has 
been heavy in the toll of hospitals, insane 
asylums, and homes for destitutes and 
delinquents. 

There is hardly a trade which has not 
some elements of danger or unhealthfulness 
in it. Women working in meat-packing 
plants in sausage-making rooms stand all 
day at their work on water- and slime-soaked 
floors. Women work in industries where in- 
dustrial poisons are used or where they are 
generated in the process of manufacturing. 
The pressure of piece-work, the monotony 
of one single operation, are nerve-racking 
and nerve-exhausting. 

[225] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

The health of women who spend hours a 
day in factories depends largely upon fac- 
tory laws and sanitary codes. Light, air, san- 
itation, overcrowding in factories, mills, and 
shops, all vitally affect the health of the 
workers. No one can measure the cost of 
industry in the life of women. The strength 
and vitality taken from them will show in the 
lowered vitality of their children. A low 
birth-rate, a high death-rate, and an impaired 
second generation are the inevitable results. 
Infant mortality where the mothers work in 
factories is notoriously high.^ 

War and Woman's Work: With the in- 
sistent demand for increased production oc- 
casioned by the war, women have been 
brought into many new positions formerly 
held only by men. They have gone into the 
steel-mills ; they are employed in large num- 
bers in the munition-factories; they are 
working on the railroads, in railroad yards, 
and inspecting tracks, as well as in the ticket- 
offices and baggage-rooms. The Pennsylva- 
nia Railroad has 2,300 women employed as 
car-cleaners, track-walkers, upholsterers, lo- 
comotive despatchers, and machine-hands. 

^Thanks are due Miss Mary Dreier, a member of the 
recent New York State Factory Investigating Commission, 
for this picture of the work which women are doing. 

[226] 



THE PROTECTION OF WORKING-WOMEN 

Some are operating trains. They are en- 
gaged as conductors on street-cars and sub- 
ways, and as elevator operators. 

These new industries are not included in 
the provisions for women of the State labor 
laws. 

New York State has a nine-hour day for 
women working in factories and mercantile 
occupations, and night work is prohibited in 
these industries; but this protection does 
not extend into other occupations. 

An eight -hour working-day has been given 
to men in many States and in many occupa- 
tions, but in only a few of the Western 
States has it been given to women. After 
three or four years in most industries, young 
women begin to wear out, the speeding up 
and the strain put on their youth begin to 
tell, their capacity lessens, and their output 
diminishes. Although the effect of long 
hours and monotonous occupation is harder 
on them than it is on men, the protection of 
the law has been extended to them to a far 
less extent. In these new industries there is 
none. Women may work in them twelve 
hours a day and all night. The demand of 
some of the street railways is for a twelve- 
hour night for women conductors (with two 

hours off for supper). Elevator operators 

[227] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

work twelve hours a day, in day and night 
shifts, and girls employed all night are sub- 
ject to insult if not actual danger. 

Since boys have been difficult to get, girls, 
including some under sixteen, have been de- 
livering letters and packages in messenger 
service. The State law prohibits boys under 
twenty-one being employed as messengers 
at night, because of the dangers of con- 
tamination from the night life of a city. 
Under present conditions a girl employed as 
messenger has no protection, and may even 
be sent to houses of doubtful character. 

The new industries for women also include 
manual work that has heretofore been con- 
sidered too heavy for them. The high wages 
paid them, while lower than would have to 
be paid now to men for the same work, are 
still high enough to attract women from 
other occupations where wages have not had 
the same advance. 

While there is an increasing demand that 
women shall be paid the same wages as a 
man would be paid for exactly the same work, 
the idea still prevails that it is only fair to 
pay men more than women because they 
have families to support, while women sup- 
port only themselves. This is not true. 
On the backs of many women rests the 

[228] 



THE PROTECTION OF WORKING-WOMEN 

sole support of aged parents, or of younger 
brothers and sisters. A large proportion of 
them give up all their earnings to the family 
needs. 

It is no longer a question of the ability of 
women to do many kinds of work formerly 
held to be the exclusive province of men; 
but of the effect of her so doing on the future 
health and welfare of the race. 

Women, like men, must work in order to 
live, but society and the State owe it to 
themselves, as a vital matter of self-protec- 
tion, to safeguard that work, so that future 
generations shall not suffer from its effects. 

The whir of machinery, the noise, the con- 
stant standing or the close bending over work, 
the meager wages, have been the conditions 
woman has had to meet for years in her 
struggle for a livelihood; to them are now 
added the dangers and excessive hours of 
these new occupations, with their further call 
on her strength and endurance., 

These new industries for women should be 
included in the laws regulating the hours and 
condition of women's work. Public mes- 
senger service is too dangerous for young 
girls to be employed in it. 

If the eight -hour working-day is right for 
men, it is even more needed by women. 

[229] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

Laws regulating factory conditions are of 
little value unless there is sufficient inspec- 
tion to enforce them, and the number of in- 
spectors employed is always inadequate. 
Women inspectors are needed for factories 
in which women are employed; but there 
are only four women factory inspectors in 
the entire State. 

Several years ago the New York State 
Factory Investigating Commission made an 
exhaustive investigation of women's wages, 
and found that women and girls were so 
underpaid as to endanger their health and 
productiveness. Since then the cost of living 
has advanced prodigiously, with no corre- 
sponding increase in wages, especially among 
young unorganized women. 

A minimum wage bill, similar to the one 
in force in Oregon, which has been declared 
constitutional by the United States Supreme 
Court, is now before the Legislature, drawn 
on the recommendation of the State Factory 
Investigating Commission. 

If the war continues, the demand, not for 
more protection, but for the suspension of 
existing labor laws, will become more in- 
sistent. The needs of the country for in- 
creased production will be irresistible and 
will not be satisfied for many years. 

[ 230 ] 



THE PROTECTION OF WORKING-WOMEN 

The test which the government should 
insist shall be applied to every occupation 
in which women engage is this: What effect 
will it have on the one business in life which 
is especially theirs, the production and con- 
servation of human life? How can it be 
safeguarded so it shall not exact too great a 
toll from their health and vitality ? 

Every consideration that individuals and 
the State can give must be engaged in 
the study of this question. With the vote in 
her hands, the woman in industry will be 
able to protect herself better than before, 
but the responsibility for her welfare rests 
not on herself alone, but on other women, 
especially on those who are free from the 
grinding struggle themselves, and can do as 
they choose with their time. It is part of 
their responsibility to see that the most con- 
scientious and careful con sideration be given 
to this question. 



XXII 

AMERICANIZATION 

THE United States is still a medley of 
foreign nationalities, representing all the 
races of the world, with their social char- 
acteristics, customs, prejudices, and even 
language unchanged. No one need be dis- 
concerted by this fact, for the people who 
came over in the Mayflower were foreign- 
born, the founders of the city of New York 
were of foreign birth, and so were the first 
families of Virginia. 

In New York State only 35 per cent, of 
the population is of native birth and de- 
scent. Almost one- third is foreign-born; 
one-third of the children born here have one 
or both parents of foreign birth. Even with 
all the resources at our command it would 
have been a giant task to have assimilated 
such huge numbers of such divergent races. 

The United States was established as a 
nation where justice, freedom, and oppor- 

[232] 



AMERICANIZATION 

tunity were to be assured to all the people. 
For over a century it has been a refuge for 
men and women of foreign lands, who have 
been oppressed and have longed for freedom, 
and who have sought wider opportunity for 
themselves and their children. 

Native-born Americans have accepted their 
privileges as a matter of course, and without 
feeling the obligations they imply. They 
have demanded justice and opportunity for 
themselves, but they have not felt the re- 
sponsibility of seeing that it was extended in 
equal measure to those who come to our 
shores. They have not realized that it is 
the obligation of every one enjoying the 
privileges and benefits of a democracy to 
see that these are shared and safeguarded 
by all the people. 

The war has brought home to the nation 
the stern necessity of a united country. 
For the safety of the nation our ideals of 
freedom, justice, and opportunity must be 
put into practice for all the people of the 
nation. The ''square deal" that we stand 
for must be given at home, the opportunity 
for better living and the development of 
character must not be denied any of our 
people. Only in this way shall we have loyal 
American citizens who value their allegiance 
i6 f 233 ] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

and who feel the obligation to uphold our 
national ideals. 

The Immigrant Is a Great National 
Asset: The country has been built up largely 
by his work. The railroads, the mines, the 
great buildings, the subways, waterworks, 
steel-mills, sugar-refining, clothes, cigars, fur- 
niture, most of the products of our factories, 
are made by immigrants. The great in- 
dustries of the country would stop without 
the millions of hands that they supply. 

The immigrant often comes here with 
high hopes of improving his condition, and 
he finds himself looked down on with con- 
tempt by the native American, exploited at 
every turn, and every advantage taken of 
his ignorance. After an alien is once ad- 
mitted, there has been relatively little at- 
tempt made to protect him, to see that he is 
helped to settle where his skill can best be 
utilized, or even to aid him in learning our 
language and customs. 

Many foreigners were skilled farmers be- 
fore they came to this country, but although 
there is great need for such labor on the 
farms here, little provision is made to use 
their skill in that way. The immigrant often 
has to pay to get a chance to earn his living. 
When he gets a job his labor is exploited; 

[234] 



AMERICANIZATION 

he has to accept lower wages than an Ameri- 
can would take ; the living-quarters provided 
for him may not be fit for human habitation. 

Here is a recent picture of a suburb of 
New York City, a community of 16,000 for- 
eign-bom workers: The married workman 
pays from fifteen to twenty dollars a month 
rent for a three- or four-room fiat, the rooms 
about ten feet square, with no light but 
kerosene-lamps. The average family has 
four children, and each family takes from 
two to six boarders to help pay the rent. 
The only running water is on the first floor, 
and there is one out-of-door toilet. Is it 
any wonder that the children, the younger 
generation, are both sickly and lawless? 

The factory buildings are large and well 
lighted, but in many communities of foreign- 
bom unskilled workmen the housing pro- 
visions allow for no privacy and are a det- 
riment to family life and morality. Such 
conditions are particularly bad for the im- 
migrant woman whose work confines her 
indoors. 

It is natural that the foreigner should set- 
tle with others of his own nationality, so 
almost every city and village in the State has 
a colony ** across the track." In the native 
section there will be police protection, paved 

[235] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

streets, running water, sewage and garbage 
disposal, but this protection often does not 
extend "across the track." There, disorder 
and filth abound and the death-rate is much 
higher. 

Every injustice to the immigrant reacts 
on us as a people. He must be given a 
square deal before he can be made into a 
loyal American. 

A common language is the first essential 
of a united nation. There are solid blocks 
in New York and other cities where not a 
word of English is spoken or understood. 
It is hopeless to try to make Americans of 
persons who do not understand our language. 
Speaking English is the first step in citizen- 
ship, and the public schools are the logical 
centers in which to make loyal Americans of 
our alien population. 

Night Schools are sometimes provided, 
but there are many localities still without 
them; and, after all, it is difficult for a man 
who has been at manual labor all day to 
study at night. They are most successful 
when they are made interesting with stories 
and games. Experiments have been made 
with classes held from five to seven o'clock 
in the afternoon in the factory buildings, and 
employers often welcome them. 

[236] 



AMERICANIZATION 

Neighborhood Classes for Women are being 
held in the afternoon in some localities. In 
this case the babies must be included. Pro- 
vision is made for them in a separate room 
with a nurse or kindergartner to take charge 
of them. The best lessons for the mothers 
are not found in books, but are based on 
the interests connected with their daily lives 
and their domestic duties. Paper patterns 
and a lesson in how to make garments for 
her baby will chain her attention, and the 
English names of articles used will be learned 
unconsciously. ''Playing store" with the 
articles she depends on to feed her family 
will fascinate her and teach her more prac- 
tical English. 

The immigrant woman is often keen to 
learn American ways and customs. She is 
eager to know how to take better care of her 
family. When the public schools of New 
York City give away pamphlets about 
economical cooking, the call for them from 
the mothers of the pupils is so great that 
the supply is soon exhausted. 

The need for some special help for the for-' 
eign woman was never as great as it is to- 
day. There are about four hundred thou- 
sand of them in New York State who have 
become citizens because their husbands are 

[237] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

citizens. They are going to vote. Many 
of them cannot speak English. In the 
course of time the law providing that a 
woman shall take the citizenship of her hus- 
band without qualifying for it herself, may 
be changed, but meanwhile these women are 
voters. They need help and education, and 
lor the protection of the State the com- 
munity must give it to them. 

Home Teaching of women in the tene- 
ments as part of the regular school system 
is being tried in California. Teachers are 
sent into the homes to show by practical 
demonstration economical cooking, how to 
improve sanitary conditions, and to teach 
the mother how to care for her children. 

Naturalization would do more to arouse 
a sense of responsibility in the alien if it 
were conferred with a ceremony which would 
appeal to the imagination. Many of the 
people who come to our shores come from 
countries where beauty and ceremonial are 
part of the national life. The process of 
naturalization, as conducted in many courts, 
is usually perfunctory and often sordid. If 
the courts are crowded, an applicant may 
have to come six or eight times with his wit- 
nesses, losing not only time, but being in 
danger of losing his job. He is often igno- 

[238] 



AMERICANIZATION 

rant of the whole subject of government ; he 
may know nothing of the questions involved 
in an election, but there is rarely an effort 
made to teach him anything of American 
ideals. The political club that wants his 
vote is the only thing connected with govern- 
ment that pays any attention to him, or of- 
fers him help. Often he finds that his vote 
has a market value. So the ballot, the 
symbol of freedom and self-government, be- 
comes to him only a bit of graft. Definite 
standards of citizenship that apply to all 
alike, better tests of their knowledge of Eng- 
lish and of our government, would help to 
impress on aliens the meaning of the oath of 
allegiance. 

Uniform Naturalization Laws: In New 
York State an alien has to wait five years 
to become a citizen with a vote. In Ne- 
braska, a Turk or a Greek or an Armenian 
who landed six months before, if he has 
taken out his citizenship papers, is per- 
mitted to vote, although he may have no 
educational qualifications of any kind, and 
know no English nor anything about our 
government. In seven other States a man 
can vote simply by declaring his intention 
of becoming a citizen. 

Ignorance of Laws: Besides the lack of 
I 239] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

provision for learning the duties of citizen- 
ship, there is little opportunity for the im- 
migrant either to become familiar with 
our laws or to learn respect for the law. 
He gets his knowledge of the vote from the 
ward boss, and he learns contempt for the 
law when he sees the curtains of the saloons 
pulled down in front, and the back door 
open. As he sees the constant disregard for 
law all around him, liberty becomes license 
in his mind. Then as he prospers and grows 
well-to-do, building laws, factory inspec- 
tion, fire protection, and other attempts 
at government regulations, often seem to him 
restrictions which are to be evaded as much 
as possible. 

Sweatshops and the padrone system are 
to his mind part of the American system for 
getting rich. In taking advantage of them for 
his own profit he feels that he is only following 
the custom of the country. A contempt for 
law and opposition to any attempt of the 
law to interfere with what he considers his 
rights are the natural results. 

The study of civics ^ in the public schools 

1 The study of citizenship in the public schools may be 
made a vigorous aid to Americanization. Many foreign 
parents depend on their children for their knowledge of 
the customs of the new country. What the children learn 

[240] 



AMERICANIZATION 

should begin not in the high schools and 
colleges, but in the lower grades. A 
majority of children leave school before 
they reach the grammar school. A prac- 
tical course in government may be 
made simple and interesting even for 
them. 

The idea has been seriously advanced 
that the oath of allegiance, accompanied by 
a dignified and beautiful ceremony, might 
be administered to groups of boys and girls 
as they reach twenty-one years of age, in a 
manner to impress on the public mind the 
value of citizenship. The "citizen recep- 
tions" which have been given monthly in 
Cleveland and Los Angeles, to the new citi- 
zens of that period, have done this. After 
a patriotic program, with the judge of the 
court presiding, each successful applicant is 
very proud when he receives his naturaliza- 
tion papers like a diploma, awarded before 

in the public schools has its influence on the life of the 
family at home. If the children are taught orderliness, 
consideration for others, and respect for authority, they 
carry those qualities home. If they are undisciplined, 
they take home disregard for parental authority, and a 
lack of consideration for the rights of others, that will 
stand in the way of their comprehending the first principles 
of good citizenship. 

[241] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

his family and friends. Such a ceremonial 
cannot fail to carry home the conviction of 
the value of the citizenship so conferred, and 
the importance of living up to the responsi- 
bility imposed by it. 



XXIII 

PATRIOTISM AND CITIZENSHIP 

FROM the beginning of history there 
have always been individuals who have 
chosen death rather than slavery. As in- 
telligence has grown and has displaced ig- 
norance, their number has increased, but it 
is only within the last century and a half 
that people have demanded liberty in suffi- 
cient numbers to make it the fundamental 
principle in the forming of great nations. 

We, in the United States, are the inheritors 
of the most courageous and forward thinking 
of the men and women of all nations who 
cared enough for human liberty to break all 
ties of home and country in order that they 
might ''establish justice, insure domestic 
tranquillity, provide for the common de- 
fense, and secure the blessings of liberty" 
for themselves and for us. 

These phrases from the Constitution of the 
United States have usually been only words 

[243] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

to us. We have been safe, our homes have 
been secure, our loved ones have been pro- 
tected. Most of us have not personally been 
conscious of any overwhelming injustices, and 
those that we have heard of have been far 
enough away not to be disturbing. We have 
come and gone as we chose ; we have thought 
and spoken as we pleased; we have wor- 
shiped as we would; our property has been 
safe; we have damned the government or 
any man in any public ofQce without thought 
of danger to ourselves; we have feared no 
man. Why should we have talked about 
liberty or human freedom — ^it has been 
secure enough. So the call to defend liberty 
to some has fallen on dull ears, and the de- 
mand for an awakened patriotism in some 
places has gone unheeded. As a people, we 
have forgotten about the long centuries of 
fighting for freedom, the tremendous cost 
that has been paid, and the blood that has 
been shed. 

Think what those words, *' safety, defense, 
tranquillity, justice," must have meant 
throughout the centuries when no man's 
life was safe, when not only his welfare, but 
that of his family, was subject to the whim 
of the government, when he could be thrown 
into prison without knowing the reason 

[244] 



PATRIOTISM AND CITIZENSHIP 

why, when the honor of his wife or daughter 
could be taken without his being able to 
protest. Read your history again, of the 
middle ages, of England in the seventeenth 
century, of France before the Revolution, 
of Germany in the eighteenth century. 
Then read of the early struggles in America. 
It was nature and the Indians that man was 
fighting then. For personal safety he fought 
to make war and raiding unprofitable; he 
had to meet brute force with brute force, to 
prove his mastery over nature and savagery, 
and to gain peace and safety for himself and 
his home. 

It is the untold sacrifices of countless men 
and women that have made liberty possible. 
That it shall be maintained, and that the 
world shall not be allowed to slip back, is 
a debt that every man and woman owes to 
the past. 

Those who inherit the fruits of this age- 
long struggle must be ready to pay their 
part, for themselves and for the sake of 
those they love, for the sake of those who 
won it for them, and for those who shall 
come after them. The duty which rests on 
them is as great as the duty that was on the 
men of the Revolution, and on those who 
won the Magna Chart a. If they do not, 

[245] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

they are weakening the forces of civili- 
zation. 

For liberty is not yet complete. There 
may be as great a struggle ahead of the 
world as lies in the past. Before the tre- 
mendous upheaval of the war, we took it 
for granted that the liberties we possess were 
common, more or less, in most of the civilized 
world. Since then the horrors, the unbe- 
lievable human suffering, the suspension of 
all human rights, in the region of the great 
struggle, we have laid to the war, and have 
not realized that in many parts of civilized 
Europe, before the war, human freedom as 
we know it did not exist, and that the denial 
of certain rights which we claim as funda- 
mental, was common. 

At the foundation of our national existence 
has been that belief in the principles of lib- 
erty, justice, and opportunity which the 
Constitution expresses. The rights given 
us by the founders of our nation have been 
the ideals which other democratic govern- 
ments have sought to follow. They have 
been sufficiently elastic to meet the growth 
of the world's belief in democracy, and to 
provide for all new developments in the ideals 
of human liberty. If these ideals have been 
denied to any of our people, it has been the 

[246] 



PATRIOTISM AND CITIZENSHIP 

fault of us as citizens. The degree in which 
they are maintained depends on us. Instead 
of denying the hberties that we actually 
enjoy, would we not do better to advance 
them and add to them? In place of tearing 
down the great structure already erected, is 
it not wiser to help to correct its imperfec- 
tions and to continue to build on it ? 
• There is an intelligent part of the public 
that desires good government and will help 
to maintain our ideals of justice, but they 
are in the minority. There is also a part that 
sees in government only their own selfish 
profit, but they are also a minority. The 
great mass of people are indifferent until 
something arouses them. They would rather 
be left alone by bad government than be 
bothered by good government. That is the 
great problem of democracy — to arouse all 
the people to a realization of the necessity 
of their active interest in and support of that 
democracy, to increase their sense of indi- 
vidual responsibility; and that is the reason 
for universal suffrage — to put yeast into a 
people and to ferment their dormant interest. 
Democracy is not static. It exists only as it 
is upheld. 

We hear about the denials of justice and 
the failures of democracy more than we do 

[247] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

about its blessings. Our sense of perspective 
is often wrong. We talk about an act of 
lawlessness in the United States, even if it 
is being prosecuted with energy by the 
government, and class it with a deliberate 
attempt by a government to crush a people. 
We make no distinction between a State 
with deficient labor laws and a country 
where the laboring classes have no right to 
make themselves heard. We see no differ- 
ence between a suppression of disloyal utter- 
ances in time of war and a people that is 
never allowed to speak freely, or a censoring 
of papers in war-time and a press that never 
prints anything but what it is told to print. 

We are apt to magnify the evils of democ- 
racy at home, and to forget the magnificent 
heritage of liberty that belongs to us. 

What are the special privileges which we 
enjoy? 

First. — Personal Security, the right to live 
our daily lives without fear of personal dan- 
ger, the right of being secure from unwar- 
rantable seizure of person. This right has 
been ours so long that we do not know how 
precious a right it is. It is difficult even to 
conjure up in imagination an idea of what it 
would mean to be in daily fear of one's safety. 

Second. — Personal Liberty: Freedom of 
[248] 



PATRIOTISM AND CITIZENSHIP 

Thought and Speech. Life would be unthink- 
able to us without this liberty. To stifle 
one's thought, to be afraid to let a suspicion 
of it leak out would mean to make life un- 
bearable. Freedom of the Press is a right 
that we enjoy more than any other nation. 
Freedom of Worship has so long been un- 
questioned that we forget that it has been 
little more than a short century since it was 
established. Freedom of Assembly is a right 
which we accept without question. 

The Right of Petition was won by a bitter 
struggle. We can scarcely imagine that 
there was ever a time when it was denied. 

Third. — Equality before the Law is a right 
that is guaranteed by the Constitution of the 
United States, the right to a fair trial by jury, 
of habeas corpus, and due process of the law. 

Fourth. — Security of Property is guaranteed 
by our Constitution. Private property may 
not be taken even by the government with- 
out a fair price being paid for it. 

Fifth. — Political Rights are guaranteed to 
our people, universal suffrage, complete po- 
litical liberty. This is the most valuable 
of all rights, because it is the right that 
secures all other rights.^ 

* Universal suffrage has meant in the past only man- 
hood suffrage. With the ratification of the woman suf- 

17 [ 249 ] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

These rights are not absolute ; they are de- 
pendent on public opinion as well as on the 
law. They are imperfectly administered. 
To the extent that they are denied, we must 
each one of us accept part of the blame, 
because liberty of action is ours. In time 
of war public safety may demand their sus- 
pension, and the people may give permission 
that this may be done temporarily. 

The privilege of citizenship brings with it 
the obligation to defend the government of 
which that citizenship is a part. The right 
to vote is a right which might well be de- 
pendent on the loyalty of the citizen, and on 
his willingness to defend and maintain his 
country. 

Men say even to-day that the vote has 
no value, that they do not care about it. 
Let them live for a time in a country where 
they would not be allowed to vote, where 
the people are governed by an autocratic 
power, and how long before they would be 
willing to sacrifice anything, even life itself, 
for political liberty? 

The citizen of a democracy has not only 
the duty to defend his country, but is bound 
to transmit to future generations something 

frage amendment to the National Constitution, universal 
suffrage will become for the first time a fact. 

[250] 



PATRIOTISM AND CITIZENSHIP 

better than he inherited from the past. As 
it is his part in time of war to defend the 
liberties that he enjoys, so it is his duty in 
time of peace to do his best to develop and 
strengthen liberty and justice. 

That is a task even more difficult than to 
fight in time of war. The discouragements, 
the disappointments, are many. 

Women are bound to meet these disap- 
pointments. The vote for which they have 
worked so hard and so long will not accom- 
plish what they wish. Often it will seem to 
accomplish very little. The machinery of 
democracy is cumbersome and very imper- 
fect. It is often heartbreaking to try to 
move it. It does not easily register the 
popular will. But in spite of the imperfec- 
tions, and the discouragements, and the down- 
right corruption, the foundation on which it 
is built is the best that the world has yet 
found. There are many labor-saving devices 
still to be invented for the bettering of the 
machinery of government — protective meas- 
ures to be found against political corruption 
and to safeguard the interests of the people. 

Side by side with the improvement in the 
mechanism of government must come a 
quickening of the public conscience. The 
yeast of universal suffrage is already work- 

[251] 



YOUR VOTE AND HOW TO USE IT 

ing toward that end. The golden rule as 
the standard of action in government will 
make few mistakes. The prospect for an 
improved democracy in New York State is 
bright. The war has swept away many prej- 
udices and has clarified many problems. 
Men and women are working together as 
never before, whole-heartedly, for the benefit 
of the State. To adapt the words of Presi- 
dent Wilson, '"'the climax of the culminating 
and final war for human liberty has come, and 
we must be ready to put our own strength, 
our own highest purpose, our own integrity 
and devotion to the test," and we must do 
this not only now in time of war, but also 
after peace has come, in the dedication of 
ourselves to the service of justice, freedom, 
and opportunity for all in our nation. 



APPENDIX 

SOME DEFINITIONS 

Habeas Corpus: Both the Federal and State 
constitutions guarantee to the people the right 
to the writ of habeas corpus, *' unless where in 
cases of rebellion or invasion, public safety may 
require its suspension." This is an order that 
may be obtained from a certain judge command- 
ing that a prisoner shall be brought into court 
without delay. This writ secures to any person 
imprisoned for any cause the right to be heard 
immediately, in order that the purpose of his 
detention may be made known, the facts be 
examined, and the prisoner either released or 
remanded for trial. This is one of our most 
highly prized rights, and is based on a promise 
contained in the Magna Charta. 

The Initiative and Referendum give to the 
voters the power to initiate legislation, and the 
right to compel a referendum on any legislative 
act. 

The Initiative enables the people to enact some 
measure that they may desire, when it has been 
ignored, or defeated, or amended out of shape by 

[ 253 1 



APPENDIX 

the Legislature. The initiative may be used to 
pass a new law, or to amend or repeal existing 
laws. If a group of citizens can get a certain 
percentage of the voters to sign the requisite pe- 
tition to a measure, it then goes to the Legislature, 
and if it is not adopted by that body, the measure 
must be given to the people for their decision by 
popular vote. If a majority of the voters indorse 
the measure it becomes a law without waiting 
for action by the Legislature. In Oregon, initia- 
tive measures go directly to the people without 
being submitted to the Legislature. 

The Referendum provides that a certain per- 
centage of voters may demand that any statute 
passed by the Legislature must be submitted to 
the voters, and approved by them before it be- 
comes a law. 

The existence of a provision for the initiative 
and referendum is said to reduce the need of 
interference with the work of the Legislature, and 
the actual number of measures coming to a 
popular vote is very small. 

The Recall provides that the voters who put 
an official into office may vote to remove him 
before his term of office is over. If people are 
dissatisfied with the conduct of a public official, 
on petition of a certain nimiber of voters, he may 
be compelled to submit to a new election so that 
the voters may pass judgment on his conduct of 
his office. 

The Red-light Injunction and Abatement Act 
is recognized as the most effective way yet found 

[254] 



SOME DEFINITIONS 

of minimizing the social evil. The usual method 
of handling such offenses is to arrest the woman 
and fine her. The injunction and abatement act 
puts the responsibility on the owner of the prop- 
erty used for this business. If it can be proved 
that it is used for immoral purposes, the house 
is closed, and the owner fined and put under 
heavy bond to insure its not being used again 
in this way. Property used for this purpose brings 
much higher rent than when used for legitimate 
business, so that this procedure strikes at one 
root of the evil. New York State has an abate- 
ment act, but it is not well enforced. It is not 
easy in many cases to find the owner of a piece 
of property. 

The Tin Plate Ordinance puts the name of the 
owner of a building on a plate outside the build- 
ing, and thus prevents the concealment of his 
or her identity. It was first put into operation 
in Portland, Oregon. 

Prohibition, High License, Local Option, and 
the Guttenburg System are all ways of dealing 
with the liquor traffic. 

Prohibition has been of many different de- 
grees in various places in the United States. A 
complete National prohibition measure has now 
been passed by Congress, and is before the States 
for ratification. 

High License is intended to decrease the num- 
ber of places where liquor is sold by placing a 
tax on them so large that it will be impossible 
for many of them to pay it. 



APPENDIX 

Local Option, which allows communities of 
various sizes to decide for themselves whether 
the sale of liquor shall be licensed or not, has 
been fought step by step by the liquor trade. 

The Scandinavian or Guttenburg System of 
controlling the liquor business, in general, pro- 
vides for eliminating all private profit from the 
business, but there are many variations of details 
in different places in carrying out the system. 
The Scandinavian idea is that if the money profit 
is done away with the business will take care of 
itself. A few licenses are given for short periods 
to companies formed for manufacturing wines 
and liquors, and 5 per cent, interest is allowed on 
the capital invested. All remaining profits go 
to the State. The government has the right to 
withdraw the license without compensation. 
Retail shops are open only from eight in the 
morning until seven-thirty in the evening; they 
are closed on holidays, and from one on Satur- 
day until eight a.m. on Monday. Bartenders are 
under the civil service and are given bonuses for 
selling soft drinks. 

The Single Tax is a proposal to place the en- 
tire burden of taxation on land alone, without 
regard for the value of its improvements. Land 
which is not improved, and is entirely non-pro- 
ductive, often increases in value with the growth 
of population and the improvements made on 
neighboring property, without any effort on the 
part of the owner, or any service rendered by 
him in return. Improvements on property in- 

[256] 



SOME DEFINITIONS 

crease the taxes on that property, while the owner 
of the unimproved property escapes the same in- 
crease as long as his land remains unimproved. 
In other words, the improvements which add to 
public prosperity are made to pay an increase 
which the stagnant property escapes. The pro- 
posal of the single-taxers is that the ''unearned 
increment" on such land should go into the pub- 
lic treasury. 

The House of Governors originated when 
President Roosevelt, in 1908, invited the Gov- 
ernors of all the States to meet in Washing- 
ton to confer over important matters. Several 
times since then this ''House of Governors" 
has met together to discuss questions of mutual 
interest which are important to the welfare of 
the several States. 

Proportional Representation would give repre- 
sentation in Congress to each party, in proportion 
to its membership in the State. At present the 
representation of each party is based on its com- 
parative strength in each congressional district. 
The division of the State into congressional dis- 
tricts is made by the State Legislature. The po- 
litical party in control of the Legislature may 
divide the State in such a way that it may be 
able to elect an unfair nimiber of representatives. 
It may put counties, or assembly districts which 
have a large majority of voters belonging to the 
opposite party, in one congressional district, and 
economize its own voting strength by spreading 
it over as many congressional districts as possible, 

[257] 



APPENDIX 

where it can be sure of electing its candidates by 
small majorities. This is known as ** gerry- 
mandering." In New York State, instead of the 
division of the State into congressional districts 
being based fairly on population, districts have 
been created by the party in control of the Legis- 
lature which contain more than twice as many 
voters as some other districts. ^ It is said that 
proportional representation would also tend to 
make Congressmen so elected work for the ser- 
vice of the State as a whole instead of for one 
local district. 

Workmen's Compensation Laws are designed 
to provide for the compensation of employees 
when they are injured at their work. More 
working-men are injured in the industries of the 
United States, in proportion to the number em- 
ployed, than in any other country in the world. 
To let the working-man and his family alone 
bear the burden of injury or death is recognized 
as an injustice. For such an injured person, 
or his family, to be obliged to sue through the 
courts is usually a long and expensive process. 
Years may be consumed in such litigation, and 
meanwhile the family may be without the sup- 
port of the breadwinner. Compensation laws re- 
quire employers, regardless of fatilt, to pay injured 

*Also under our present system a large minority of 
voters may be without representation. A third party in 
the State may have a considerable membership, but its 
numbers may not be large enough in any one district to 
elect a representative over either of the other parties. 

[258] 



SOME DEFINITIONS 

worlonen certain amounts for injuries resulting 
from accidents, without the workmen being ob- 
liged to to go to court and sue for damages. 

The State Federation of Labor is working to 
have all compensation insurance placed in the 
State fund, to eliminate direct settlement of 
damages between the workers and the employer, 
and to have all occupational diseases included in 
the provision of the law. 

ADDITIONAL NOTES 

Page 109: School taxes under the new Township law are collected 
by Town authorities. 

Page 142: In New York County the Grand Jury is composed of 
thirty-six men. 

Page 144: A bill to make women elegible for jury service is before 
the Legislature of New York State. 

Page 163: Efforts are being made to repeal the Township school 
law and to go back to the School District system of 1795. 



"*) 



CHART OF OFFICIALS FOR WHOM YOU 
CAN VOTE 



ELECTIONS 

School Elections. 

Board of Education, 
3-5 in each town. 

School directors, 
2 in each town. 



WHEN HELD 

School-meeting annually 
first Tuesday in May. 



TERM 



3 years. 



SALARY 



Village Elections. 


Annually, usually in the 
spring, the third Tues- 
day in March. 

< < 1 ( 
It (< 


1 " 

2 " 

I year. 

I " 
I " 

I " 

4 years. 




Trustees (2 to 8). 
Clerk (sometimes ap- 
pointed) . 
Treasurer. 
Assessors. 
Collector. 
Police justice. 




varies. 

percentage, 
varies. 



Special elections may be called to decide special questions. 



Town Elections. 



Supervisor, 

Town clerk. 

Assessors. 

Collector. 

Overseer of the Poor. 

Supt. of Highways. 

Constables. 

Just, of the Peace. 

County Elections. 

Sheriff. 
County clerk. 
Treasurer. 



Biennially, either in the 
spring or at the gen- 
eral election in No- 
vember. 



in November. 



<i 


2 y€ 

2 ' 
2 ' 
2 ' 
2 ' 


;ars. by the day 
or salary. 
' fees. 
' by the day. 
' percentage. 
' by the day. 


•• 


2 ' 


' fees. 




4 ' 






3 ' 


' feesorsal'y- 


(< 


3 
3 ' 


' fixed by b'rd 
of super- 
visors. 



[261] 



OFFICIALS FOR WHOM YOU CAN VOTE 



ELECTIONS 

District attorney. 

Supt. of the poor. 

County judge. 

Surrogate. 

Coroners. 



WHEN HELD 

At the general election' 
in November. 



TERM 

3 years. 



SALARY 

sal'y varies. 

by the day 

or salary. 

sal'y varies. 

fees or sal'y 



City Elections 

Cities of the first and second class and usually those of the third class 

hold elections biennially, in the odd-numbered years 
New York City. 
Mayor. Elected every four years 4 years. $15,000 

at the general election 

in November. Next 

mayor elected in 1921. 



Comptroller. 
Borough presidents. 

Aldermen. 

Judges, City Courts, 

Judges, Muni. Courts 



Elected by the people of 

each borough. 
In odd-numbered years. 
At any general election 



New York County. At the general election 

Sheriff. 

District attorney. 

County clerk. 

Register. 

Judges of the Court of General Sessions. 

Surrogates (2). 

Bronx County. At the general election. 

Sheriff. 

District attorney. 

County clerk. 

Register. 

County judge. 

Surrogate. 

Kings County. 

Sheriff. 

District attorney. 

County clerk. 

Register. 

County judges (s). 

Surrogate. 

Queens County. 

Sheriff. 
District attorney. 
County clerk. 
County judge. 
Surrogate. 

Richmond County. At the general election. 

Sheriff. 

District attorney. 

County clerk. 

County judge and surrogate. 



At the general election. 



At the general election. 



4 " 


15,000 


4 " 


7,500 




to 5.000 


2 " 


2,000 


10 " 


12,000 


10 " 


7,000 




to 8,000 


4 " 


12,000 


4 ' 


IS. 000 


4 " 


15,000 


2 " 


12,000 


14 " 


17.500 


14 


15,000 


4 " 


10,000 


4 " 


10,000 


4 ' 


10,000 


4 


10,000 


6 " 


10,000 


6 " 


10,000 


2 " 


IS, 000 


3 " 


10,000 


4 " 


12,000 


2 


12,000 


6 " 


12,500 


6 " 


15,000 


3 " 


10,000 


3 " 


8,000 


3 " 


8,000 


6 " 


12,500 


6 " 


10,000 


3 years. 


6,000 


3 " 


5.000 


3 " 


5.000 


6 " 


10,000 



[262] 



OFFICIALS FOR WHOM YOU CAN VOTE 



ELECTIONS WHEN HELD 


TERM 


SALARY 


State Elections. Biennially, at the general 






election in even-num- 






bered years. 






Governor. 


2 " 


10,000 


Lieutenant-Governor. 


2 " 


S.ooo 


Secretary of State. 


2 " 


6,ooo 


Comptroller. 


2 " 


8,ooo 


Treasurer. 


2 " 


6,ooo 


Attorney-General. 


2 " 


io,ooo 


State Engineer. 


2 " 


8,ooo 


State Senators. 


2 " 


1,500 


Assemblymen. 


I year. 


1,500 


Judges of the Court of Appeals. 


14 years. 


13.700 
to 14,200 


Judges of the Supreme Court. 


14 " 


10,000 
to 17,500 


National Elections. At the general election 






President. Elected by presidential 


4 " 


75.000 


electors who are elected 






by the people every 






four years. 






Vice-President. " " 


4 " 


12,000 


U. S. Senators. At different general elec. 


6 " 


7,500 


Representatives in Biennially, in even-num- 


2 •• 


7,500 


Congress. bered years. 







THE END 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




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